Should Power Grid Go Global?

Nearly a century ago, Buckminster Fuller proposed a worldwide electrical grid. He noted that peak demand for electricity does not occur simultaneously in all parts of the world.

Fuller's proposed grid would have avoided the need to build generating facilities used only during the few hours a day when local demand reaches its peak. Electricity needed then could instead be imported from areas where current demand was lower.

Consumers wouldn't have to pay for infrequently used generators in their electricity bills.

Unfortunately, 1930s technology couldn't transmit electricity the long distances that Fuller's proposal required.

In 1972 I had not heard about Fuller's idea. But it occurred to me that solar energy — intermittent at the local level due to cloudy weather, nighttime, and seasonal variations — could become our sole source of electricity if connected to a worldwide grid. Since the sun is always shining somewhere, the worldwide grid would greatly reduce the need for batteries to store up energy for times when sunshine is not locally available.

By 1972 electrical technology had greatly improved since Fuller proposed a universal grid. But the principal obstacle to large-scale solar energy was the extremely high cost of producing solar panels. Solar energy simply could not compete with coal, gas or oil except in special situations like artificial satellites.

Research since 1972 has reduced the cost of producing solar panels dramatically. In 1977 PV panels cost about $76.67 per watt ($376 in 2024 dollars!) while by 2024 they only cost 11 cents per watt.

To put this in easily understandable terms, the PV panels on my roof would have cost $3,440,400 in 2024 dollars, a totally impossible amount, back in 1977.

Solar energy is therefore now cheaper than that from fossil fuels.

Now we also can economically move electricity long distances. Long-distance high voltage direct current (HVDC) lines — which minimize electricity losses from friction in the wires — have been built in many parts of the world, and many more are in the works.

The need to rely on solar energy has recently been driven home by the obvious increase in climate problems caused by carbon dioxide pumped into the atmosphere for the last 200 years by modern energy systems.

These problems are beginning to hit home. Watch out for your next house insurance bill!

There have been three principal obstacles to converting entirely to solar energy: technical, economic, and political. The technical and economic obstacles have now been overcome. The political obstacles remain, and they are formidable.

Moving toward a solar-powered economy has naturally been resisted by economic interests with large investments in coal, oil and gas. Energy is such big business that coal, gas and oil interests have a lot of money with which to present their case, lobby governments, donate to political candidates and hire spin-doctors.

The money they are spending is a drop in the bucket compared with the profits they are protecting.

Can we blame these companies for what they are doing? At least we do not need to buy their self-interested claims.

Of course, it is not just vested economic interests that impede efforts to move to total reliance on solar energy. International tensions and rivalries are slowing development of a single grid that will allow us to forget about coal, gas and oil.

A worldwide grid will inevitably rely on undersea cables that are vulnerable to attacks like those that have taken place against undersea gas pipelines and internet cables. These cables would need to be well protected.

Nevertheless, the future of the world climate requires converting to solar energy. And full conversion to solar energy will require wiring up the world.

With this much at stake, practical diplomacy even among geopolitical rivals should be able to overcome these political obstacles.

Buckminster Fuller had many ideas that were ahead of his time. His proposal to wire up the world is an idea whose time has come, finally.

Paul F. deLespinasse is Professor Emeritus of Political Science and Computer Science at Adrian College. Read Prof. Paul F. deLespinasse's Reports — More Here.