In the US, 30% of total power consumption goes to facilitate citizens continuing to shit in their drinking water.
IMO Looking at renewables to replace such a massive consumption of energy is
a doomed techno-fix approach.
The permaculture approach would be to look first at where energy savings can
be most effectively achieved. E.g. In the state of Qld 40% pf domestic
electricity is used for water heating, the state government has now made
solar water heaters mandatory for all new homes and offers subsidies for
homeowners to switch from electricity to solar.
Smart business initiatives are slashing power consumption on that front e.g.
20% power savings simply from switching off all computers & equipment of
stand-by and non-essential lighting at night when the office is closed.
Once you start eliminating these excessive and wasteful demands on
production (and they really start to add up to substantial amounts once
there's a good number of strategies), then exploring the logistics of
renewable sources for essential needs become a far more feasible exercise.
Robyn
"Change your life - not the climate"
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