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This topic relates to my earlier post entitled Artificial Intelligence in my News page. One of the objections to AI is its consumption of electrical energy, to which utility companies say, “Yes! Bring it on!” It also consumes lots of water for cooling the huge, ugly data centers that house the equipment for processing and storing vast amounts of information. Whenever we search on line for important things like celebrities’ romantic involvements, we add to the strain on the grid.

The partial solution: renewable energy. It won’t eliminate the ugly data centers, but at least they will burn less petroleum and natural gas, the main fuels used now to produce electricity in the US.

Why Do Utilities Oppose Pluggable Solar and Wind farms?

Unfortunately, utilities that rely on fossil fuels spend huge sums of money lobbying against renewables like wind energy and solar power. Some of the creative arguments against wind farms, for example, include the danger windmills pose to migrating birds. If we can look forward to colonizing Mars, as Elon Musk claims, then we should be able to add a feature that produces sound above the range of human hearing, yet audible and annoying to birds. Such devices are already available for rodent control in buildings.

Solar panels already exist that plug into an outlet in your house (in this case, a protected outdoor outlet would be best) and rest on a balcony, sit in your backyard or attach to any surface that gets direct sunlight. Objections raised by utility company lobbyists include safety concerns. Since the panels produce electricity, they are unlike all other major appliances we’re familiar with—the plug is “hot” and can deliver a shock if touched. However, you don’t need an engineering degree to see that plugs could be designed with protective covers, and outlets for the devices could have childproof retractable sockets that extend into the plugs only when needed. (Maybe I’ll apply for a patent.)

Is Pluggable Solar Dangerous, and Can It Really Save Me Money?

Unlike the US, Germany already has over a million pluggable solar panels in use, and that country has a reputation for reliable engineering. One can assume that safety concerns have been addressed for those devices, which may include automatic shutoffs for dangerous thermal or voltage levels. Each panel typically generates 600-800 watts—not nearly enough to power a whole house, but capable of shaving hundreds of dollars off one’s annual electric bill. (Depending on where it plugs into your home’s electrical system, it may only affect one of your circuits.) In the United States, one 3-by-5-foot panel can cost nearly $1,000, so it requires several years to pay for itself. My household bill averages $70 per month, or roughly $840 per year. After the first year, each panel would begin to pay for itself. Unit price would probably shrink as production increased and competitors entered the market. As the illustration above suggests, many customers could easily do their own installation.

How Do Utility Companies Hold Us Back?

The main obstacle now: 37 states have legal constraints against these devices. The laws give rise to long-term, customer-unfriendly contracts. My wife and I once investigated how to cancel a contract for a conventional multi-panel rooftop installation with a monthly “service” fee and little if any discernible savings on our electric bill. This typical residential system included serious-looking boxes and cables attached to the side of our house that allowed interface with our household electricity. The hook-up was as complex and mysterious as the legislation that currently requires it. We ended up selling the house to a buyer willing to take over the solar provider’s contract.

What About Battery Limitations?

As with all technologies, competition will stimulate design improvements like faster charging and longer usage cycles. But we’ll never reach that goal unless we lawfully oppose legislation backed everywhere by the self-interested lobbying of utility companies.

A Market Ready to Develop

Imagine saving money on your monthly bill while fighting climate change, promoting a smart grid and enjoying clean energy. Why is our national energy policy based on an outdated utility regulation system that benefits a few billionaires rather than rate-payers?