Last week Al Gore challenged us to get off of carbon based fuels in 10 years, comparing the challenge to the Manhattan Project or Kennedy’s challenge to go to the moon. So I started thinking about that, wondering if it’s possible.

In comparing it to going to the moon, we are probably closer to getting off of oil than we were to going to the moon when Kennedy made his challenge. So I’m going to assume that it is doable. It’s just a matter of will, which was what Gore was trying to inspire. And I think that anyone who sees what’s going on in the world would agree that the scope of the problem makes the goal worthy.

Technology Required

Obviously, to make this happen, we have to assume that the solution will look very different than today’s power distribution. It will have to be a product of newer technology that is built on a paradigm shift and based on new existing technology as well as emerging technology. Here’s a partial list of the emerging technologies I think we need to focus on.

1. Super Capacitors
2. Advancements in High Voltage High Current Power Control Semiconductors
3. Development of new high voltage insulation materials
4. Converting the Grid to High Voltage DC
5. Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors
6. High Voltage Underground DC in the Megavolt ranges
7. Running Cars on Super Capacitors instead of Batteries
8. Capacitive energy storage in a DC grid.
9. Making Cars run on Super Capacitors
10. Using Cars to store and move Electricity

These ideas are my own. They are not complete and although I have a good understanding of a lot of the material presented here, I’m not an expert. The idea here is to present a plausible overview that the experts can get excited about then go do it right. So if I’m off track on something or have missed a better way – fine. Build on the ideas.

The Power Grid of the Future

One of the important pieces of a new energy plan is a different kind of electrical power grid. Because of the simplicity of transformers, AC power was a natural choice and, for the most part, the only choice. But now that has changed with new semiconductor and computer technology. Although DC is still more expensive than AC now, in the future that won’t be true. And here’s why …

DC has a lot of advantages over AC. DC requires only 2 conductors instead of 6 or 7 as in 6 phase AC. DC also doesn’t have the inductive and capacitive losses that AC does. And this is especially important when you go underground.

I think underground DC is the future of the gird. Underground has several important advantages. It’s protected from the weather; ice, wind, rain, hurricanes, tornadoes and solar mass ejections. In the future, solar flares are going to be a major problem as Earth is starting to go through magnetic reversal, so if power is already underground, then that will reduce the problems. Underground uses less real estate and looks better.

DC also doesn’t have the problem of having to match phase and frequency in order to interconnect systems the way AC does. That allows for better control of energy distribution and of power.

If we can also develop new high voltage insulating materials, we can increase the voltage, reduce the cost and move more power further. The new grid is going to need to be higher capacity to be able to move energy from where it is to where it needs to be.

What I see happening is that a hybrid grid is formed with the addition of a high voltage DC backbone added to the AC grid with parts of the high voltage AC grid being replaced with underground DC. AC would be used for regional distribution as it is now. The grid will also connect continents eventually allowing power to be moved from the parts of the world with power to the parts of the world that need power. More on that soon.

Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors

One of the things that makes the DC grid possible are advances in semiconductor technology. A new device called an insulated gate bipolar transistor allows high voltage DC to be converted to AC very efficiently. This is a revolution in the way we should be thinking about the grid. In the past AC has been popular because of the ability to use low tech transformers to step voltages up and down. DC couldn’t be converted efficiently, but now it can and we should be thinking in terms of a new grid based on direct current.

Super Capacitors

Super capacitors from companies like EEstor and Maxwell are capacitors with storage capacities thousands of times the energy capacity of today’s capacitor. Super capacitors are very new and still in development but because of their capacity, it changes the entire electrical paradigm. Super capacitors can be used to be the batteries of electric cars and they can be used to add an energy storage component to the energy grid.

Super Capacitor Powered Electric Cars

Not just because of the high capacities being achieved, but also because of the far faster charging rate, super capacitors are what I think is the future of electric powered vehicles. Super capacitors can be recharged in 5 minutes at special charging stations. Zenn Motor Company in Canada is going to have (as they claim) an electric car out in 2009 that goes 280 miles on a charge and has a top speed of 80mph.

In the next 10 years we need to switch to electric powered cars. Bio fuels are still carbon based. It’s liquid that has to be hauled in. Electricity can be moved all over the world through wires rather than pipes and trucks. And you can move it at the speed of light. It allows wind blowing in Texas to power cars in California.

Super Capacitors and Grid Energy Storage

The current power grid is for the most part a real time system where power generated is used immediately. This requires that power generation match power consumption. But with super capacitors, electricity can be generated and stored for later use. This allows power to be generated at night, for example, in Texas wind farms and then be shipped over the DC grid to power charging stations for cars at night so that in the daytime when cars “fill up,” they can use nighttime wind energy.

Super capacitors can also be used to move electricity into areas where it is anticipated that it is going to be needed. For example, the weather forecast predicts a heat wave in Atlanta and electricity use for air conditioning is going to be high. With an energy storage grid, power generated the night before can be moved to the area and pre-positioned for use the next day. Energy storage would allow a whole new way of thinking about electricity distribution.

Using Cars as Grid Storage

The car of the future might become part of the electricity grid. As the capacities of super capacitors increase, cars will be able to store far more electricity than they need. Most cars are driving less than 2 hours a day which means that the car sits parked for 22 hours a day. And with tens of millions of cars just sitting there, they could be configured to provide power back to the grid when parked.

Not all cars would be part of the system, however people can have charging units in their garage or car port that automatically connect to the car when at home, parked at work or parked at public transit parking garages. These connection would allow power to be transferred in both directions. It can fill the car with power or tap power from the car to help the grid meet the energy needs of the local grid. Thus the car can be charged at night when the grid load is low and the power used in the daytime when the grid load is high.

The fully charged car is driven to work where it is again connected to the grid. While the car sits there, it is either charged or discharged depending on the needs of the grid. Each car would have a computer with a setting as to how much power the car is willing to share so that the grid doesn’t take too much power. The system would make sure that the car has plenty of power left over to get home or wherever the car needs to go later.

Cars that share power in this way would get energy credits for being allowed to be used to power the grid. So if a car is charged at night and gives back power in the day, the owner might get enough energy credit to get free power making their commute to work at virtually no cost. Cars that are constantly on the road during peak power times would pay a higher rate for electricity.

In Conclusion

If we are going to solve the energy problem sooner rather than later, we have to change our way of thinking from what we are doing now to what we will be doing 20 years from now. That is going to take new thinking and vision; thinking in revolutionary terms rather than evolutionary terms.

The suggestions here aren’t perfect, have mistakes and can be improved upon. It is also just one piece of the energy puzzle, but it is the core of energy distribution. Electricity is one of the most efficient means of energy distribution. It doesn’t require energy to be hauled on trucks, trains or through pipes. It is a universal interface connection – generation of power with the consumer of power.

The new elements in this paradigm is the energy storage part. Super capacitors are an emerging technology. High voltage DC is also fairly new, not that it hasn’t been tried, but new technology is making it more cost effective. As inverter technology improves, DC power will become more affordable. As new materials for insulators becomes available, the voltages can be increased and the cost of underground cables will decrease. As more cars convert to super capacitors, the grid will adapt to using them as mobile batteries to power the electricity infrastructure.

There are other technologies on the horizon as well. If we invent high temperature superconductors we can store power in magnetic fields and create magnetic bearings for flywheel storage of power. Carbon nanotubes will also play an important part in the future as well as other types of nano-technology used in advanced materials to create technologies that we haven’t yet though of.

So I invite readers of this to spread the word and use this article as an example of using new ideas and new thinking to achieve Al Gore’s challenge of getting off of carbon based fuels in 10 years. And if someone has a better idea – go for it.