We are surrounded by an abundance of energy, from sunlight to underground heat to the motion of our bodies. In the past, this energy could be difficult to tap, especially in comparison to more traditional sources. Moreover, the 20th century energy model demanded massive centralization of infrastructure, and intermittent, limited, point-sources of power didn't integrate well into this set-up. With the emergence of new energy technologies, innovative distributed energy systems, and a rapidly increasing demand for mobile energy, energy specialists have begun to take a fresh look at sources of power found all around us.
This will be a much more complex task than simply replacing a coal plant with a wind farm. This is a top-to-bottom re-conceptualization of energy production and distribution networks. It won't happen overnight--but it will bring with it a revolution in industrial, urban, and building design.
Over Our Heads:
Energy in the Built Environment
The emergence of low-cost, reasonably efficient photovoltaic materials will transform the built environment, including roads, walls, windows, and the myriad smaller structures that dot the landscape. Going well beyond the "building-integrated photovoltaic" technology that emerged in the late 1990s and early 2000s (such as hiding glass solar panels in rooftop shingles), this new technology will integrate flexible energy-producing materials into any surface that catches a moderate amount of sunlight. Although improved efficiency and optimal placement will always be desirable, the value of this approach comes from its ubiquity.
Taking the form of thin films, fabrics, even paint--and much of it produced using emerging nanotechnologies--these photovoltaic systems will produce a clean, renewable flow of energy for structures, outside surfaces, and potentially even vehicles. With current and near-term technologies, thesupply won't fully satisfy energy demands; it can, however, serve as a useful supplement to the existing power network.
Spread the Wealth:
Decentralization and Smart Energy
Electricity generated by solar materials--along with more conventional micro-energy sources, such as rooftop wind turbines and underground heat pumps--could be stored and used locally. Or it could be fed into the electric power grid. Improvements in energy storage technologies would support local use, with breakthroughs ranging from high-reliability fuel cells to paper batteries (paper doped with nanotubes, able to store power with the energy density of a traditional D cell). Improvements in grid reliability and metering will support feeding local power back to the energy network. Although this approach runs counter to traditional images of "off-the-grid" energy independence, it has the benefit of greatly improving the resilience of the power grid, by offering a denselyconnected form of energy interdependence.
Key to the distributed energy network will be the proliferation of smart metering systems, allowing for rich information about consumption, granular use management, and even control over routing. One possible result of the spread of smart meters and distributed power sources will be the emergence of power-trading networks stepping around traditional energy companies.
Touch-And-Go:
Energy and Design
Flexible photovoltaic material isn't the only potential source of commonplace energy; power generated by motion (such as walking, swinging of arms, even the vibrations of a road or dance floor) can all offer a small, but useful flow of electricity. The challenges here are as much design challenges as they are engineering challenges: taking full advantage of these forms of energy generation will require not just new technologies, but new ways of thinking about the integration of materials and behavior.
The most visible example is in the realm of product (or industrial) design. Vehicle shapes will change to maximize solar capture; bags, tools, and other small items likely to encounter sunlight will end up having some way to store the tiny amount of power generated and to feed that power back to the larger system (home storage or the grid) when put away. Consumer comparisons of weight, cost, and carbon footprint measurements will be joined by energy generation potential.
Building design will change, too, both to increase the potential for power generation and to reduce power consumption. The same will happen for neighborhood and urban design. This isn't simply adding solar panels on a building or bus stop as a design afterthought. It's the integration of energy generation into basic design principles. As with the emergence of distributed power networks, it signals a shift from a consumption model to an interactive model of energy.