The Energy Grid

The growth opportunities of developing countries will rely strongly on the availability of cheap energy only if those countries wish to pursue an economic model now proven by the developed world to be nothing more than a massive progress trap.   If anything, as compared to developed nations, many developing countries are positioned in a better place strategically  because their economies have not locked them into self-defeating infrastructure choices such as highways, suburban sprawl, big box chain stores, fast food, expensive health care, resource wars, and so on.


I believe a clean energy future, for developed and developing nations alike, will rely not on fossil-fueled growth, but instead on a global web of communication and information sharing between nations (admittedly, afforded at present by the "progress trap" of fossil-fueled development).  The information sharing will occur in virtual spaces, but local networks of real people, via organizations like One Earth Designs, will be instrumental in the design, deployment, and implementation of physical technology in real communities.

Knowledge sharing tools that are emerging rapidly in the Web 2.0 environment are already allowing people on opposite ends of the globe to share ideas, thoughts, concepts, successes, failures, praise, criticism, problems, and solutions at an unprecedented pace and with a transportation footprint that is just a tiny fraction of what physical presence would cost.  One affordance of such technology may be a global leap in consciousness of what makes good business sense, and therefore what commands economic value.  Hopefully not too long from now, we will laugh at the absurdity of burning our ancestors in order to get to the store for a pack of hot dogs.

As Joost pointed out in his comment on this week's question, developing nations will only leapfrog the economic status of developing countries if they innovate themselves out of poverty with solutions that address scalable energy consumption as well as clean energy production via solar, wind, nuclear, or cleaner carbon.

A number of localized, strategic measures could employ entire communities to develop and operate ecologically integrated cities with green roofs, big garden commons, high density, reliable infrastructure, pedestrian friendly pathways, human- and electricity-powered forms of transportation, and energy-efficient buildings tuned to local conditions.  By combining reductions in resource consumption with advances in clean energy production, we stand the best chance of eliminating the need for fossil fuel consumption which drives so much global instability.  Also, it's worth pointing out that many of these socially beneficial arrangements are process-driven and therefore labor intensive.  Innovative solutions should be enacted in a way that considers the effectiveness of human beings as living creatures, first and foremost, participating as active members of living eco-systems.  We probably can't afford to "utilize" people (or any natural systems, for that matter) as "resources" for much longer before populations rebel or Nature buckles. 

In designing our future, we are perhaps best off following principles of organizations like ZERI (Zero Emissions Research and Initiatives) who view waste as resource and seek solutions using nature's design principles as inspiration.