Smart Technology
As demand rises and reserves become costlier, governments will increasingly find energy security to be a challenging goal. Political factors (both domestic and foreign), technological developments and environmental concerns provide further complications. Trends to date indicate that if solutions to these problems are found they will likely be a networked basket of diverse, non-centralized “smart tech” approaches. This report frames the state of energy generation today and discusses some of the likely candidate technologies that will form the solution. Energy security may be one of the most pressing issues facing states in the long term. With conventional sources of energy facing increasing demand and dwindling supplies, new strategies to meet demand must be investigated. New concepts in energy storage may provide the key to integrating additional renewable energy into the grid. Developments in energy efficient technologies may help cover additional shortfalls in supply and help delay the need for new generation capacity.
