Think Solar, Think Small

KAREN CALDICOTT

As the Obama administration and Congress search for worthy infrastructure projects to fund as part of the stimulus and economic-recovery package, there is a growing consensus in support of major investment in the renewal and greening of America's electricity grid. Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens's plan for a huge new grid to tap wind energy across the Plains States has attracted the most attention, but the grandest aspiration is for a "national backbone grid," a coast-to-coast project tapping renewable energy sources that would cost hundreds of billions of dollars.

Big electric-transmission projects have developed a potent support base that includes large utility companies as well as many environmentalists, who argue that all means must be pursued to save the planet by reducing the burning of fossil fuels. The presumption is that big new transmission projects are required to reach America's vast renewable resources, from the strong, steady winds of the Midwest to the relentless sun of the Southwestern deserts.

Although massive expansion of the electric grid threatens to despoil the last of America's undeveloped places, some environmentalists mistakenly believe the urgency of dealing with climate change leaves no alternative to large, remotely sited renewable electric-generation facilities and the transmission lines they need to get power to consumers. In fact, there is an alternative: "distributed generation," or smaller solar technology installations on rooftops and near existing transmission lines, or even scaled-down wind farms sited closer to consumers.

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