Energy use that doesn’t disrupt ecosystems
In the future, we will use the energy that nature is supplying us. In general I believe the sun is the best resource for future energy since this harvesting this resource does not interrupt local ecosystems. It doesn’t have emissions, nor does it disrupt wind and waterflow that keep ecosystems and animals in balance.

Learning from the leaves
The leaves of the trees and plants can tell us how we can capture and transfer energy from the sun efficiently, without any waste other than oxygen. The leaves will also inspire us to make flexible and movable solar panels that are attuned to the sun and responsive to the gushes of the wind. Although we are already quite far with developing solar panels, the use of precious materials seems in this respect unnecessary (leaves don’t use these as well), and they are relatively rigid and non-transparant. Also, having growth of the solarpanel leaves is something that we can still develop if we listen to nature well.

I believe that one of the main goals of humanity is certainty on energy supply. Individuals (small demand) and organizations (large demand) want to be certain of their energy supply.

De-centralized energy capture and storage
The best way to achieve this, is I believe, to stimulate de-centralized energy capture (solar panels) and storage (batteries), with units that are relative to the use on this scale. People, and communities can supply themselves most of the time with their own resources, and therefore experience independency through autonomous functioning. And connection with and responsibility for the capture of energy within the local community.

Multi-scaled distribution
Large organizations and buildings will sometimes require a lot of energy that is also used by the individuals. Therefore, we also need larger energy supplies and storage units. In the drawings, you can see 5 scales of energy use, from individual items, to rooms, to houses, to community buildings, to skyscrapers. The network is ordered in this way that it is responsible for the use of each scale.

In the next paragraph we’ll continue on this issue.

If we look at all these scales, we will see proportionate batteries and supplies emerge. We’ll also see a roughly exponential size difference between each scale, namely, the largest battery is 4 times the size of the second scale, which is then again 4 times the size of the smaller one, and so one. At the lowest scale, there are many many very small batteries.

Each “reservoir” is connected to the larger reservoir on the next scale. When there is an imbalance between them, they will solve this by supplying the lowest filled reservoir, until they are balanced again.

The supply and demand will be different on each scale, the largest reservoir of energy has the most flexibility to solve discrepancies due to it large size. Although the largest reservoir is central in the network, and therefore key to the connection of the global network. It is also considered as the least important one when it comes to energy supply.

The most important reservoirs to sustain are the smallest reservoirs. At the smallest reservoirs, we have the space where we actually use the energy. There are the individual items that individuals use. The large reservoirs are mere media to supply across the network and sustain flexibility between the actors in the network across all the scales.

The largest issue of using solar energy is the rhythm of the sun and the change of the seasons. During the day our supplies are being filled by the sun, while we also do most of the work that demands energy. At night, we hardly use energy and the darkness does not provide. In the evenings this can therefore cause an imbalance: high use, low supply. 

In the winter we use much more energy while the sun is less present. In the summer there is a lot of sun, while we use less energy. Together, these rhythms cause for a different energy supply and energy demand that can cause issues. 

Luckily, the same rhythmicalities also cause for different day/nights across the earth, and even different seasons. While the sun is out in China, it’s dark in the US. While it’s Winter in Europe, it’s summer in Australia. For the day rhythm, energy will flow just in front of the rhythm to the sun. In the countries where it’s light and bright, energy will be captured, used and the rest will be transferred to the East; the countries that have been all evening and night without new energy supplies. When it gets bright over there, they will use it, and pass it on as well. While in the meantime, there is also a seasonal flow that continuously takes place across earth.

Connecting the global energy supply and demand network to each other causes certainty and responsibility in all the regions of Earth, and also mutual dependency on each other. Although it’s a relative self-sustaining network on each scale, the real large processes can only be maintained if everyone is connected. It serves as a way to help each other, while you know you can depend on others when you’re in need.

The distribution of energy across the network can be optimized by understanding and anticipating on the patterns of energy use. AI- can make the best calculations on this and support us in distributing energy efficiently across the globe.

Monitoring imbalances between supply and demand could be factors to account the actors within the network. This might result in non-linear pricing of use between the involved parties. For example, the cost of energy might be higher for users who hardly supply but predominantly use energy of the network.

If the network reaches maturity, it could be considered to introduce selective energy supply for suppliers of the network. For example, suppliers might not want their collected energy to be used for the production of weapons. While they could desire to stimulate other users who desperately need it, as charity. This is something to be thought about carefully, and I didn’t think that much through it yet.

Next to the sun, some processes also cause for energy to be produced in. For example, when a car breaks it can provide as a source of energy. There are many of these sources that can contribute to the network. They should however not have an other function that might disrupt the system in another way.