Wanted: A visionary to implement alternative power

Wanted: A visionary to implement alternative power

Vishnu K. Mahmud, Contributor, Jakarta, vmahmud@yahoo.com

Last week, sitting in my darkened room -- courtesy of the Great
Jakarta Blackout part 2, I began to wonder about mankind's thirst
for electricity.

Nowadays, everything we do requires electrical power, be it in
the form of batteries or wall sockets. Our entertainment systems,
communications hardware and cooking utensils are now a part of
our daily lives and a power outage reduces us to scramble for
traditional alternatives: candles, wood and gas.

As it stands, Jakarta's power grid is provided by the state
electricity company PLN from a number of generators scattered
around West Java. Although the network grid, not the generator
itself, was the primary fault of this latest power failure, it
got me thinking of other environmentally friendly alternatives
for power generation.

When a megalopolis like Jakarta goes dark, hundreds of backup
diesel generators light up to provide emergency power for the
various office buildings, businesses and public service
institutions. Imagine going down the main roads in the city and
seeing a mini haze-like atmosphere from the smoke of all the
generators in the area powering up at once. It is not a pretty or
healthy sight.

If, at some point, the laws are changed to allow competition
in the electricity service industry, some entrepreneurs should be
able to give PLN a run for its money in some areas. In the
meantime, there is loads of information available for free on the
internet; data that may give the next Indonesian visionary start-
up ideas to provide better services to the country.

Solar power was supposed to be the answer to all our problems.
The sun is plentiful everywhere in the archipelago, with the
exception of those areas where forest fire haze is a major
factor. The only problem is that the expensive storage technology
and relatively low energy efficiency has not made photovoltaic
cells an effective tool to generate electricity at present.

However, the technology keeps improving. Solar power was only
used extensively for calculators and wristwatches, but now
photovoltaic cells can be used to heat water, run radios and
power laptop computers.

Some cars have been designed to run with sun power exclusively
(check out www.ev1.org for interesting stories).

Closer to home, the tiny village of Sukatani, West Java, had a
project to install "Solar Home Systems" in order to bring
electricity to the remote community. Where before activities
slowed down at nightfall, Sukatani began to develop economically
and socially with the help of the various items many of us city-
dwellers take for granted: electric lights, radios and TV. You
can read the impact of the program at
sol.crest.org/renewables/indonesia.

You can also get more information at the Solar Electric Power
Association website (www.solarelectricpower.org), Solar Power.org
(www.solarpower.org) or Solar News (www.solarpower.com).

Wind power is another clean renewable resource that can be
implemented in Indonesia. Ideally used in the high mountains or
by the seaside, wind is an effective renewable energy resource
that can power homes. The devices themselves (huge windmills),
however can appear rather ungainly, standing at least 10 meters
tall, and may be a hazard to the local wildlife (birds) or
kitefliers.

The Danish Wind Industry Association (www.windpower.org) has
tons of information online and even invites users to download
their entire site! Denmark is the world leader in wind-based
energy generation and is hoping to promote wind energy abroad.

There are many other alternatives to power generation that
include Tidal Energy, Geothermal conversion and others. You can
review them at the International Council for Local Environment
Initiatives website (www.iclei.org/efacts) and read the various
studies about the alternative fuels and their consequences.

Of them all, wind and solar power can be considered the
easiest power generation method to implement on the consumer
level. Homes that have alternative power generators not only cut
costs but can also contribute to the city electrical grid during
peak hours, as they do in California. Of course, the local laws
and infrastructure will have to be changed first.

This information is out there for everyone to see. All we need
now is the political will and/or a courageous entrepreneur to
build a business providing clean and efficient energy to the
masses. It would not only be a money making venture, but would
help the cities clean up the pollution in which we all have to
endure.