Sweden to Become One of World’s First Fossil Fuel-Free Nations

[kristopher]

28. Do you understand how a distributed energy system is different from a centralized system?

If you don't, then it might be a struggle to see how in a distributed system the end users are a large part of the generating picture. For example, in a planned community all of the homes might have solar PV, the community might jointly own a wind turbine or 3, and a furniture factory nearby has - in addition to its own solar and wind, a standard thermal electric generator where they also burn their scrap wood to make electricity. That biomass system will eject about 70% of the energy content of the fuel as heat. That heat could be captured and sent to nearby homes.
The homes themselves, in addition to being highly energy efficient, could be equipped with something like a ceramic block or an insulated vault of stone to store several days worth of excess heat from all the variable sources.

There is no set best configuration as each contributor to the system builds on local strengths. Once you become aware of the possibilities you'll see there are many potential opportunities all around us. Just as a mental exercise let's try to save the family farm: envision a respectable sized family-owned agricultural operation and see how many ways you can think of to integrate energy production into their activities and resources.