Power to the People: 7 Ways to Fix the Grid, Now
Now consider what we will ask the grid to handle in the near future: Demand for electricity is expected to increase by as much as 40 percent in the next two decades—more than twice the population growth rate. To meet that need, we will have to generate an additional 214 gigawatts, a feat that would require the construction of more than 357 large coal plants. We also want to plug in dozens, if not hundreds, of gigawatts of wind and solar power harvested ... Full Story »
Posted by Mike LaBonte
It is true 40% of all energy generated in the US is lost as noted by the DOE as Electrical Transmission System Losses. The obvious solution neglected in this article is WPT ( Wireless Power Transmission) use in the US-Canada Electrical Grid. Microwave WPT is about 98% efficient when transmission is needed. Rooftop solar has no transmission loss and so generates avoided cost savings in every case.