Brittle Power- PARTS 1-3 (+Notes) - Natural Capitalism Solutions

274National Energy Securitycan be put together from things that are lying around in virtually any farmyardor town dump in the world. The conclusions of this analysis do not considersuch technologies, and the economic comparisons in this book, whileoffering a few examples, in no way depend on them. But neither can theirpotential be ignored in favor of the highly refined designs more familiar towell-funded high technologists. Whatever the fancy designers may think ofthese odd-looking contraptions, they must at least admit that oil refineries,reactors, solar power satellites, or multi-megawatt wind machines are not technologieswhich lend themselves to production of simplified versions by citizensat greatly reduced cost. That potential for making many renewable technologiesin local machine shops or at do-it-yourselfers’ workbenches is advantageousenough in normal times; in emergencies it becomes absolutely vital.This chapter does not suppose that people will be able or willing to maketheir own energy systems rather than having commercial versions professionallyinstalled (which costs more but is still, as will be shown below, economicallyattractive). Some people will; but that opportunity is not considered here.Quality controlThis chapter is, however, based on the truism that renewable technologies,like any others, depend on good workmanship and must be the product ofintelligent design based on sound economic principles, not on mere habit.Given such good design and sound construction, appropriate renewable energysystems can systematically fulfill their outward promise of being reliableand convenient, as well as very difficult to disrupt or to use so as to cause significantharm. Poorly executed, such systems can fail, with consequences thatare relatively localized, but may be replicated many times over.Without good design, neither renewable nor nonrenewable energysources, and neither energy supply nor energy efficiency, can make sense. Itis, of course, quite possible—as some private and (especially) government programshave shown—to make wind machines which fall down, to use insulationmaterials which emit poisonous fumes, to install vapor barriers incompetently(causing condensation in the walls, which rots the timbers so that thehouse collapses), to make solar collectors which rust and leak, to install ormaintain wood stoves poorly (setting buildings on fire), or to create biomassharvesting programs which deplete soil fertility. There are always many examplesof how not to do things right. For this reason, careful attention to detail,institutionalized quality control, and information feedback to enable people tochoose intelligently are absolutely essential to any energy program.But meticulous quality control is even more vital in large, complex energy