Little House on the Prairie families were resourceful and self-reliant. Today's smart power grids and solar PV will democratise electricity and free us from behemoth energy utilities.

 

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Notes: The democratization of energy holds a lot of appeal in a world where we feel like victims of larger forces that control our economic fate. When oil prices spike, we helplessly take another financial hit.

Just as the internet democratised information by building distributed networks, so electricity is transforming into a distributed network of producer-consumers.

In the early days of the internet only the most confident futurists could envisage that it would become a platform for shopping, banking, socialising and activism. That's where we are right now with respect to new distributed energy networks.

Many people can't see it yet, but it is coming.

 

Comment: This bites appeals to conservatives who value independence and self-reliance.

A distributed energy network that gives householders more control over production and consumption as well as protecting them from market fluctuations is a winner!

Opower offers households the opportunity to compare their electricity usage with others.

 

Source: Elisa Wood at RealEnergyWriters.

Image: Amazon