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3.75 AVERAGE
3.75 AVERAGE
Really enjoyed this. Our national infrastructure simply can’t handle variability. Will be under stress with climate change.
adventurous
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
informative
slow-paced
Lays out a brief history of the US power grid and why it's so disconnected, brittle, and quirky. There's a lot of added complexity when we start adding small household solar producers into a power ecosystem that is used to monolithic power stations, predictable production and consumption, and insulation from market forces. Bakke makes a compelling case for why the future could never come from the existing power utility companies.
She presents the problems with the current infrastructure, outlines a lot of the perverse incentives forcing the country into massive, state-sanctioned monopolies, but also warns against the increasing Balkanization resulting from the accelerating trends of individual production and disconnection.
No easy solutions are given, but she points to the ultimate dream of fusion power providing cheap, endless, clean power and wireless charging of devices so that we don't have to think about. It's ultimately the services of hot showers, fresh coffee, and comfortable homes that consumers want to pay for; not electricity. It's a good introduction to the issues, and a good start on learning to think about power generation issues and options.
She presents the problems with the current infrastructure, outlines a lot of the perverse incentives forcing the country into massive, state-sanctioned monopolies, but also warns against the increasing Balkanization resulting from the accelerating trends of individual production and disconnection.
No easy solutions are given, but she points to the ultimate dream of fusion power providing cheap, endless, clean power and wireless charging of devices so that we don't have to think about. It's ultimately the services of hot showers, fresh coffee, and comfortable homes that consumers want to pay for; not electricity. It's a good introduction to the issues, and a good start on learning to think about power generation issues and options.
Amazingly both approachable and engaging enough to be beginner-friendly and technically deep enough to be a valuable contribution to the conversation
You should read this book. It's a fascinating exploration of how electricity works (and doesn't) on a national scale. you'll learn the historical context that gave us the electrical system we have today, in terms of technology, politics and culture. Bakke explains the promise and challenge of integrating green energy into the electrical system, and proposes several things that must be done to make the problem more tractable.
challenging
informative
slow-paced
challenging
informative
slow-paced