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Can you imagine adding the nations transportation needs to them with electric cars en masse?
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unless we go nuclear in a big way or people start generating their own electricity at home. The idea tat electric cars are "clean" and non-polluting is just false.
I am curious, though, whether there was some news report or publication or something that prompted the OP? You didn't offer any link or context.
At least in the Southeast. America in 2020 was capable of 813 Gigawatts of power generation.
http://www.geni.org/globalenergy/library/national_energy_grid/united-states-of-america/index.shtml
was from 2002. It would be interesting to see how it has changed since then.
I couldn't see that 813 Gigawatts figure though, nor where it said that this is too much.
I agree with Ed. In a small nation the size of the UK, a national grid works fine, but a country the size of the US, a national grid seems too difficult.
Mark
It's a rather well-known fact that the growth in the generation and use of electrical power isn't matched by the growth of the capacity to TRANSPORT it between the places where it's produced and it's used.
In stead of saying, as James does, "we make more electricity than we can transport across the country" you could just as well say "we use more electricity than we can transport across the country".
The big problem: who will pay for the modernization of the grid?
See http://energybulletin.net/node/43823
Kees
Instead of being on the grid, generate power locally or individually.
That's a mini nuclear power generator to provide electricity for 20.000 homes. http://www.hyperionpowergeneration.com/product.html
Kees
more smaller producers widely scattered would allow you to add much more power available than centralized production.
Either a development that would make smaller regional plants available, or a breakthrough in home generation still tied to the grid would be needed.
To just pick a number, if every town/city over 25,000 had a means of generating enough power to cover 110% of their use, but all still tied together, the backup from regional supplies would probably carry the load when there were down problems. It would also help supply all the smaller towns that didn't have generating power.
It's the cross country delivery that is the real problem.
There's a move to connect the big three at Tres Amigas in Texas to try and solve that.
No particular story but you can see http://news.google.com/news/more?pz=1&cf=all&ned=us&cf=all&ncl=ddCUBGJ2pdYudnMQ3U712RUFWoJHM for story after story of stresses on the grid. It's the same every summer. Next will be news of rolling blackouts.
Maybe made from swimming pools? Store the energy or at least act like a capacitor during peak periods to smooth out the power surge.
There is no easy answer. The best way to look at this in the long run is to remake the infrastructure that best supports all this in the future. It will cost money no thought but the end result will be a better sustained future. Even to those that make fun of anything outside of current grid power systems will have to build all alternative power generation to include homeowners than that in some way generate their own but also reduce demand as well. While electric autos maybe weak in initial offering they get better like everything else if allowed to progress. It wouldn't hurt to return to electric trains as well.
tada -----Willy 
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