Observations on Granovetter's talk

After the talk several people approached me and pointed out:  "it is all well and good to know how we got here, but now that we are here, how do we change?'  Of course generation is an issue, but consumption is an issue as well.  An other question is: "given today's consumption, can isolated generation provide for our power needs?'

There are a number of things to consider.  One is the type of generation.  It seems conceivable that natural gas, petroleum or even coal might be used to create small power plants, but greenhouse gases and the transportation of the fuel would still be an issue.  Granovetter argues that because the transmission was more technically interesting  engineers focused on it to the exclusion of solving such problems. 

It is important to begin investing in the future today.  Rephrasing the question above, we might ask "if we start now, will isolated generation be able to provide for our power needs in 20 years?"  At this point I doubt it.  This will be a topic of future Electric Salons.

I encourage your comments on the subject.