Energy, Sustainability and Society (Nov 2023)
National electrical energy supply: foundations of a future system
Abstract
Abstract Background Approximately 90% of the global human population have access to a supply of electrical energy. Existing national electrical energy supply systems possess good technical availability but with significant system-inherent risks. The latter show their effects in the systems’ operational behaviour, their impact on the national economy and on the global climate. National electrical energy supply systems in their current state can therefore not be considered sustainable. This invites the question, “can there be a national electrical energy supply system that is simultaneously technologically, economically and environmentally sustainable?”. Main text The contents of this article are of a fundamental nature. They start from a newly established axiomatic system for multiple-sustainable electric energy systems. The axioms contain no dependencies on individual users, nation states or technologies. For the transition into a sustainable energy system, core challenges faced by existing systems are synthesized, the fulfillment of which determines the feasibility of future systems. We state that anthropogenically generated electrical energy is a product possessing a cultural-technical significance. In this article, the possibilities arising from the physical fundamentals are considered. In addition, a new control system is developed that integrates user impact, quality assurance and cost developments in order to show a means to multiple-sustainable energy supply systems. An essential component of the control system is a unified view of energy production and energy transport. This also includes a transition from the previous, technology-dominated energy supply system into a new system for which the relevant social concerns are primary. One axiom deals with the economic concerns of management organizations of national electrical energy systems. At first, only the monetary working hypothesis is formulated, whereby organizations within the energy economy must be decoupled from basic business principles. Detailed discussions will be dealt with in a further article. Conclusions Through the transition from a technology-defined to a user-defined electrical energy supply system, the system-immanent risks in the operational behaviour, the national economy and the climate can be avoided simultaneously in an ideal complementary combination. Building upon the physical solution space, the quality-assured control process, which contains a systematic cost-reversal and a central focus upon the cultural-technical product of electrical energy, ensures such a transition is achievable by means of fulfillment of the core challenges. For these fundamental statements, which refer to the transformation into a future system, detailed explanations of organizational units are not yet necessary since they are not subject to any natural-scientific restrictions. However, they are essential for the post-transformation process.
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