A collection of notes, links, resources

Review of the book Global Energy Interconnection by Liu Zhenya

If the world is to raise its energy use from fifteen terawatts to fifty terawatts by mid-century, then a plan such as Global Energy Interconnection (GEI) will be important. By showing how global energy can be used cooperatively, GEI will also point the way to similar transformations for the use of natural resources, water, food, and even nuclear energy. Fortunately, several Nobel Laureates, physicists, engineers, along with staff at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey have already outlined these energy and resource plans. It is their expertise which I hope to apply in this review of GEI. In the GEI plan, "The basic direction is to focus on clean energy substitution and electric energy substitution." With large-scale solar and wind power stations in place, the electricity needs to be widely distributed, typically far away from the actual generation sites (abstract, Chapter 2). For this, "The final aim is to put in place a global energy interconnection with a new strategy landscape dominated by clean energy, focused on electricity and characterized by global resource distribution" (abstract, Chapter 3). As media articles show, the world would have areas of solar and wind production linked to urban and industrial areas by long HVDC lines. Media further reports this would be a Fifty Trillion Dollar project, with steady work until completion by 2050. The GEI plan is generally similar to one put forth in "Critical Path" (1982) by Buckminster Fuller. He wrote that "The global energy grid is the ... World['s] highest priority objective" (p. 206). Related plans have also been published. For the United States, there was a "A Solar Grand Plan", Scientific American 2/15/08, and in a global plan in "Future Global Energy Prosperity: The Terawatt Challenge" by Nobel Laureate Richard E. Smalley (MRS Bulletin, June 2005). A special feature of GEI would be the HVDC power lines, which allow power transmission over very long distances with minimal loss of electricity. It is notable that Dr. Smalley and others proposed that carbon nanotubes with near-superconducting or superconducting properties would be excellent for this purpose - if they could be developed - given the light weight and abundance of carbon. This topic is covered in the online presentation "Our Energy Challenge" by Richard Smalley, available on YouTube. While the HVDC lines in GEI appear very useful, the actual construction cost using aluminum for the power lines and steel for the supporting towers would be immense. The scientific aspects of long distance power transmission, and a synopsis of the cost problem is expertly covered by Nobel Laureate Robert Laughlin in "Powering the Future" (PF), pages 46-48. Then there is the issue of power storage. Presently, the most reliable cost-effective way to store energy from renewables is with pumped hydropower, or 'pumped hydro' (PF, pages 51-52). At global scale, and at current energy use, there would be need for eight new lakes the size of Lake Mead to handle power surge capacity that is practically inevitable with renewables (PF, p. 54). However, the search for clean energy raises more questions? Does it matter to the Earth if the clean energy is from renewables or nuclear energy? If a supergrid is built, couldn't large and stable countries with nuclear energy export the electricity, just as in some other regions there is the import of electricity over HVDC lines? The practical answer is "yes". As stated above, the supergrid idea in GEI may point the way to more cooperation for energy and resources. For certain regions, renewable energy and electricity export to urban area in the mid-latitudes will work; in other regions, this would be reversed. That is, certain regions may have surplus electricity from Generation III+ or Generation IV nuclear energy to export to developing and agricultural countries. Here is an alternative scenario, that still relies on "Expanded HVDC Grids" or "Supergrids", but one with a more agricultural focus, developed by the nuclear physicist Theodore B. Taylor: Boost food production and dramatically save water with regional-scale greenhouse complexes (see "The Restoration of the Earth" by Taylor and Charles C. Humpstone, pages 54-55). While this is infrastructure intensive in the building phase, and would cover vast areas, the basic concept is analogous to the GEI plan. Again, boost the productivity (either in terms of energy or food) in the desert regions, raise the living standards of people in developing countries, and export the surplus to the industrialized countries. The solar energy focus - for energy, liquid fuels, and better agriculture - is well developed in "The Sun, the Genome, and the Internet" by Freeman Dyson, of the Institute for Advanced Study. Finally, it's notable that Dyson cites Taylor's ideas several times in his books, including "Disturbing the Universe". He observed that Ted Taylor was one of the greatest men of the 20th century, yet unknown to the general public. For that reason alone, more people would benefit from reading "The Restoration of the Earth" by Taylor and Humpstone. Returning to GEI, it is significant that the author recognizes technology advances will be needed, and very soon. In the abstract for Chapter 6, it is stated that "We must therefore allow technological innovation to play a guiding and enabling role, with research and development strengthened to realize breakthroughs in the four pillar technologies of clean power generation, UHV grids, large capacity storage, and information communication, as quickly as possible. This will support the construction of a globally interconnected energy network and secure a sustainable supply of energy globally." Likewise, in Former President Jiang Zemin's book "Research on Energy Issues in China" there is clear support for the energy research imperative. Similarly, in the US one of the most concise arguments for energy R&D is put forward by Nobel Laureate Richard Smalley in the online video "Our Energy Challenge". It is therefore with much optimism that I offer the ideas of Nobel Laureates Laughlin and Smalley, and the books of Dyson and Taylor/Humpstone, who prove that the energy challenge can be solved. With the energy problem finally brought under control, there will also be new ways to improve the world's water, food, and forestry resources, leading to modern levels of socioeconomic development and ultimately a stable and prosperous world population. The fundamental research by Laughlin, Smalley, Dyson, Taylor, and many other scientists and engineers, joined with the new strategic and business leadership of Zhenya Liu and like-minded thinkers, thus offers a hopeful vision of the future.