The World Grid and New Geographies of Cooperation

The global grid concept is a fascinating piece of infrastructure engineering.

But the anti-market rhetoric here feels completely backwards. The article cites Shell building Europe's largest renewable hydrogen plant, BP's $30B Australian investment, and major moves by other energy companies... then somehow spins this as evidence that corporate involvement is problematic?

Market incentives and existing energy infrastructure expertise are exactly what's driving the current clean energy buildout at scale.

I wish this was presented as the interesting systems engineering challenge it is, rather than wrapped in reflexive anti-corporate ideology. The technical aspects deserve serious analysis without the political baggage.

Markets are societal structures, as are corporations. They can be hijacked by special interest groups. They aren't inherently bad or good. But since citizens united there has been an enormous amount of maleficence and 'markets' often become a byword for this because of how pervasive it's become.

It saves time to say 'market logic' or 'corporate' whatever then to qualify the whole thing and the language patterns settle into the lowest energy configuration like everything else.

The quote at the beginning of the article tells it all: "However, none pretend to describe optimal pathways for achieving a sustainable, equitable and secure energy outcome for all. Instead, they settle for “practical” solutions that avoid rocking the ships of states".

It’s an article written by a proponent of the new economy which is officially alter-globalization. It’s actually internationalist in its vision, opposed to free markets and wants a solution which is equitable for all. Everything old is new again, a spectre is haunting the new economy, the spectre of…