Brave new backyard

The first thing you need to know about energy is that there is no shortage.

The universe is alive with energy. Whether it be a spinning wind turbine or a photovoltaic solar cell, this energy is often invisible until we find the right trick to tap its power. But never doubt that there is plenty of the stuff.

If there is a crisis, it is that we're plugged in to the wrong type of energy. In fact, we've become addicted to the "grid," the nationwide web of electrical power.

Most of the energy on the grid is the kind that stinks up the skies, alters the engine of our climate, poisons the rain. We move fuel for it on ships that foul our oceans and in pipelines that explode in our backyards.

We are addicted to the wrong stuff, but perhaps edging closer to kicking the habit. As Californians suffer through rolling blackouts, as Oregon state office workers turn down their thermostats, as manufacturing plants lay off workers, we are starting to realize we have a problem.

Of course, this isn't the first time it's looked like the country was going to clean up its act. Twenty years ago energy was on everyone's mind.

Popular Science carried stories each month promising some new technology.

The cover stories featured super-efficient homes and conservation technology. There was plenty of talk of new power sources, like wind, solar, and tidal energy. There were breakthroughs in energy efficiency. The genius of the world was focused on cleaner, more-efficient power.

Somehow all of that was forgotten, or at least it became less public. It was no longer in our national interest to develop new power sources - or even to find ways to conserve energy. Our cars and houses got bigger and less efficient. The engineers and inventors kept working, however, and quietly, a number of folks used new technology and old ideas to wean themselves from centralized energy.

Some just wanted to build houses in places where it would be too expensive to run power lines. Others were motivated by ethical reasons. As one of my neighbors told me, when the utilities started building nuclear power plants, he couldn't bring himself to take power from them. So he built a fine house with all the amenities, but with no connection to the grid. Solar and wind power provided him with everything he needed.

Quietly, the cost of power generated by home solar and wind units has come down, even as the power these systems can generate has increased. As The New York Times recently reported, while solar systems cost between 15 to 18 cents a kilowatt, fossil fuel power - which five years ago cost a third as much - can sometimes cost the same or more. Our local power providers are projecting a 40 to 60 percent rate increase in the coming year.

New power plants are in the works, but the availability of another fix doesn't reduce the problem of addiction. Building new power plants for the grid is expensive, both ecologically and economically.

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