Photo by Matthew Henry on Unsplash

A little bit of a different post from me today. If you follow me on instagram, you’ll know that Thursdays are known as ‘eco-friendly’ Thursdays. And today is just that, so I thought I’d talk about something I read recently about Microgrids.

Before reading, I had no idea what a microgrid was. I knew of the national grid where the majority of our energy comes from, and of course wind and tidal power etc but this name had never entered our household. It’s thanks to the book Drawdown by Paul Hawken, all about reversing climate change, that I’ve learnt what one is and how they could be the future.

What is a microgrid?

I hope this isn’t boring but a microgrid is essentially a smaller grid which can easily move around, unlike the national grid.

How are microgrids ‘the future’ of energy?

One of the big issues we have in this world is power shortage, mainly in poorer countries  where bigger grids won’t reach. A microgrid can provide that service as they are very portable. They would be very useful when a back-up generator is needed and could provide power storage for times like these. As Paul Hawken put its, great for hospitals where all-around-the-clock energy is required. They are cheaper than bigger grids and only supply energy where demand is. This is much better for the environment as less energy is lost.

Maybe we could all have one in our backyard in 20 years time.

Do you think microgrids could be the answer?