digital detritus

Originally I was going to write this as an open letter to George W. Bush but as I started that it felt a bit contrived so I’m just going to write what I’ve been thinking about.

I’ve been thinking about all that has been going on in Iraq and I’ve decided that there is a fundamental flaw in the plans that have been laid out so far by the folks in charge. Ok, no big surprise there, that’s been obvious since the get go, but bear with me. Now that we (the U.S.) is now in Iraq we might as well do something productive, so here’s my suggestion. If we really want to get folks on our side we need to give them a reason to trust us and something worth protecting. Easier said than done, yes I know.

I love micropower generation and all that goes with it. I like it because it is very fault tolerant, it gives local folks control and because it is far less stress on the environment than giant power plants. So what if we started to build micropower generation sites all over Iraq?

As I understand it one of the big problems in Iraq right now is that lots of folks there don’t have reliable power or good water sources. Pretty basic stuff if you think about how we live in this country. A few days without power and water and most folks in the U.S. are ready to panic. So I can only imagine what the Iraqis are feeling like right now.

What if in each city, town, village that the U.S. passed through we built micropower generation stations? These could be solar, wind or hydro-electric, depending on the area. Instead of building giant plants to power half the country what if we did it one town at a time? I believe that there are more benefits to this than most folks might expect.

First and foremost lots of small power plants make it much harder to disrupt power to a large area than one or a few large power plants. Imagine that each town has its own power plant and that plant is connected to an ever growing national grid. If one has to shut down, for any reason, then that town can draw power from its neighbors. Not only does this make each town more stable with its own power, but it also means that the national grid is better off as well.

Second, if each and every town has its own power plant than the folks in that town have some ownership of that power plant. Instead of some rebel folks destroying something far away and not so likely to seem relevant to folks the power plant is right there in their own backyard and they are much more likely to want to protect it. Each municipality suddenly has a vested interest in protecting and maintaining their power station.

Micropower generation systems, when designed properly, are easier to maintain. Instead of needing an entire herd of engineers and mechanics all in one place to maintain some giant power station now only a few folks are needed to maintain each installation, and it can be local folks. Again, more ownership for the local folks.

Micropower can also take advantage of the local terrain and weather patterns to use the best source(s) of energy available. Is the town located someplace flat and very windy? Well, how about wind turbines? Are there lots of sunny days? How about solar electric? Is there a river near by? How about a series of hydroelectric turbines? Or it could be a combination of any and all of these. Each locality could be taken into consideration when designing the local solution, and we could work with the local people to find the solution that best fits them.

Finally this kind of solution allows for the problem of power generation piece-wise instead of all at once. The power production facilities could be built in many places at once. Each one providing power to a different town. As each town came on line it would provide power to the national grid to help other folks that don’t have their local power stations built yet. I prefer to solve problems one piece at a time, it’s much easier, but that’s just me.

I realize, of course, that this isn’t likely to happen. And it isn’t likely to happen for the very simple reason that companies like Halliburton and Enron and the Carlyle Group can’t make money off of this. Unfortunately what is driving any restoration effort at all in Iraq, and I’ve yet to see any evidence that any is happening at all, is profit and not what is best for the Iraqis.

But hey, the idea is out there now, so maybe, just maybe, someone will listen.

Technorati Tags: micropower generation, Iraq, social change, wind power, hydroelectric, photopholtaic, social change