Follow the sun to build a climate-compatible society!

Basically all energy on Earth comes from the sun. Be it hydro, wind or biomass, they all originate from the sun. Using solar energy directly on the already sealed surface of houses, roads, parking lots and other infrastructure converts solar energy most efficiently and with minimal impacts on biodiversity and other essential Earth systems. Consequently, the energy future will have to be almost exclusively solar.

The trouble is intermittency: the sun does not shine in the night and solar yield is much less in bad weather and during winter. Energy storage solutions are available—such as batteries, pumped hydro storage, and hydrogen or other synthetic fuels—but at very high energy, materials, social and financial costs. Avoiding storage is one essential lever to accelerate the energy transition and reduce climate risks.

What this means, though, is that we have to align our energy demand with solar supply. Just like sunflowers, our society will need to orientate activities according to sunshine. Today, electricity demand is spread almost evenly over the course of the day, mostly because fossil power plants operate best at constant load and incentives were created to shift energy demand into the night. Basically, the only thing we have to do is revert this paradigm: shift energy demand back into the day!

We will have to give up the "consumer-is-king" principle, where everyone can use as much energy at any time as they want, and replace it with a supply driven energy system: energy can be used when it is available. Some principles can guide us for this task:

Reduce energy demand, then it also doesn't need to be stored
Use solar surplus for energy intensive activities
Sub-hourly energy prices provide incentives to shift demand
Avoid the use of mobile devices or connect them to the grid to minimize battery size
Shift active energy use (e.g. for a screen) to passive materials (e.g. a book)

Discover on this website more about the sunflower society, the scientific basis and some inspirations for application. The idea was initally published in this paper.

Carpe Solem!