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PoliticaleEconomic Governance of Renewable Chapter j 4 79

The same is true with the light-emitting diode (LED) light bulbs, and now
solar panels. Today LED bulbs may cost a few pennies more, but they last far
longer than a regular light bulb and can be recycled without issues of mercury
and other waste contamination. The result is better lighting for homes and
offices but significantly less costs in terms of the systems and the environment.
Some LED bulbs are guaranteed to last from 6 to 8 years (Nularis, 2011).
While energy demands in homes and offices continues to rise due to the
Internet, computers, and video systems, the installation of energy-efficient and
now cost-saving systems if very much in demand. Some states are even being
required by law the to change over from the older light bulbs to the newer
LED ones.

Distributed Renewable Energy Generation for Sustainable
Communities
Adding more complications to the policy decisions of the European Union,
Japan, and South Korea is the reality of an aging grid and undercapacity. The
European Union must crank up investment in new generation. Estimates are
coming in that indicate that to meet demand in the next 25 years, they will
need to generate half-again as much electricity as they are now generating.
According to the International Energy Outlook 2010, conducted by the US
Energy Information Administration (USEIA, 2011), world’s total consumption
of energy will increase by 49% from 2007 to 2035. This could result in a
profound change in the European Union’s power generation portfolio, with
options under consideration for new plants including nuclear energy, coal,
natural gas, and renewables.
Originally, when nations electrified their cities and built large-scale elec-
trical grids, the systems were designed to transmit from a few large-scale
power plants. However, these systems are inefficient for smaller scale
distributed power from renewable sources (Clark, 2006). Although some
systems will allow for individual households to either buy power or sell power
back to the grid, the redistribution of power from numerous small-scale
sources are not yet managed well economically (Sullivan and Schellenberg,
2011). As Isherwood et al. (1998 and then in 2000) document in the studies of
remote villages, renewable energy for central power can meet and even exceed
the entire demand for a village, hence making it energy independent and not
needing to import any fossil or other kinds of fuels. This model and program
has worked in remote villages, but it can also be applied to island nations and
even larger urban communities or their subsets.
The grid of the future has to be “smart” and flexible and based on the
principles of sustainable development (Clark, 2009). As the Brundtland Report
said in 1987“as a minimum, sustainable development must not endanger the
natural systems that support life on Earth: the atmosphere, the waters, the soils
and the living beings” (Bruntland, 1987: Introduction). With that definition in