The potential for truly distributed energy, truly distributed power, could be the contribution of solar energy that equals or even exceeds the importance of its reduction in carbon pollution.
It is no coincidence that electrical energy is also called power, the same word that also refers to the ability to free yourself or control others. In recent history, almost all development has taken the form of increasingly concentrated infrastructure, which in turn is concentrated power. Big concrete, justified in the name of increased efficiency, rules the day.
In the 20th century, big concrete was sold as beneficial, and perhaps on the context of the times, it was, at least for the prosperous people in the more prosperous countries. Hoover Dam killed numerous ecosystems and buried several dozen workers in its big concrete, but has delivered clean electric power in the decades since.
No more. Show me a big concrete project, and I’ll show you another tragedy in the making. Distributed energy, on the other hand, has stunning transformative value.
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