Page 38 - Environmental Nanotechnology Applications and Impacts of Nanomaterials

24 Nanotechnology as a Tool for Sustainability

Increasingly, the primary energy producers that put electrical power in
the world can simply dump the power onto the grid in the cheapest pos-
sible way, and locally, the local storage buys it off the grid when it is
cheapest, when it is, of course, most abundant. Such a system would
relieve the pressures of having to provide almost twice the generating
capacity than is used on average to account for the peaks and the lows
of electricity demand. Competition at the residential storage appliance
level allows the electrical energy grid to transform itself, with a time
period of a couple of years rather than decades. By allowing the possi-
bility to mix locally produced electricity with grid-delivered centralized
sources, the energy system becomes more robust.
The shift to a nanosupported, localized distributed energy system has
the advantage that it does not require tearing down existing centralized
facilities and building completely new and separate infrastructure. New
distributed facilities can be initiated now and connected to the existing
plants providing power to the grid. The value is that it would facilitate
not only residential solar, but also other very remote energy sources to
this same grid, including vast solar farms in the deserts, where local
storage serves as a buffer supply for when the sun is down, as well as
storing energy from wind when it is blowing. Vast amounts of electrical
power can also be imported from remote nuclear power sources way out
in somebody else’s backyard, behind a military fence, where one can be
absolutely sure there is no nuclear weapons risk or accident risk asso-
ciated with plant operations. Links are also possible to electricity plants
generating power from clean coal, wherever there is a site where CO 2
can be sequestered cheaply and not have it come back at greater than
0.1 percent leakage per year. Distributed electricity systems can be used
to fuel plug-in electric hybrid vehicles.

Conclusion
Our current energy predicament requires a bold new energy science
and technology program, as well as an enlightened federal policy to
map out the path to development of new sources for a better energy and
st
environmental future for the 21 century. Such a path will have to be
guided by an enlightened federal energy policy that goes well beyond
anything we have had or have today. Elements of a new energy policy
must include the means and incentives to rapidly develop, demonstrate,
and deploy cheaper, more efficient, and environmentally sound energy
supplies to protect the global environment while improving the quality
of life in developing countries. With visionary leadership at the highest
levels of government—and sound national science, technology, and
energy policies to match—larger numbers of talented and motivated