Africa Power!

This project rules!! A plan to initiate a system for using solar energy in the Sahara Desert and using it in Europe, now backed by lots of companies willing to put (LOTS! of) their money where their mouths are.

and this picture inspires hope for a sustainable energy systems in the future. Hope for large scale, industrial solutions is something I've really been struggling to maintain. My first thought was that this is amazing and my second was that it would sort of suck if Europe just ran in there, swiped all of Africa's sun power and left, but there are plans for Northern African stations to be coupled with desalinization plants to provide water for drinking and crop irrigation to African nations. I just hope Desertec isn't planning on charging crazy prices for the fruits of what are technically Africa's natural resources. This project is planned to be up and running in about ten or fifteen years; in time to provide relief for the predicted energy crisis.


And while this partnership between Africa and Europe makes me feel glad at what seems like an ideal mutualistic relationship, I can't help but wonder- what super cool large scale project are we planning to help our nation?? Well there is the the Mojave Desert PG&E/Brightsource project, but the energy produced by this endeavor only equals 1/80 of what Desertec has in mind. This effort is a small part of the plan to make 20% of the energy PG&E provides sustainable... just in California (other renewable sources of energy include wind, geothermal, and hydrological types). So the Mojave Desert project is a great start in establishing sustainable energy systems on an industrial scale in the United States of America, but hopefully we can work on making better friends with our central American neighbors and together plan a sustainable solution to provide energy for the future.