News, notes & comments

In a Professional Engineer article [1], editor John Kane reports on, a study of the long-term feasibility of distributed (i.e., decentralized), renewable energy supplies for the state of California. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, the 18-month study began in March 1977. The researchers have released a preliminary report, titled Distributed Energy Systems in California´s Future, which projects that by the year 2025 California could supply at least 90% of its energy needs through distributed energy systems based on renewable — or virtually inexhaustable — energy sources located within its borders. These sources would include direct solar, biomass, wind, geothermal, and hydropower, plus extensive energy conservation. The report says that all the technologies it selected have the potential to become economically competitive by the year 2000.