When we burn fossil fuels, we burn solar energy that has been converted and stored in plant matter, which in turn, over time, has coverted into oil and natural gas. The Sun delivers 10,000 times more energy than we require. Why then are we digging up old energy, burning it at a central location, and then trying to efficiently distribute it over long distances? We don’t have to do this, but we continue to do so because power monopolies need to continue to sell power in the centralised manner they do now. This can change.

How do we do this? I think we can do it using that same decentralized power concept I’ve written about before. Instead of constantly plugging everything in to a central power grid, why aren’t we generating our own power from available sources? The Sun is everywhere. Wind is everywhere. Tides operate near most human populations. Geothermal sources are right below our feet, and never run out.

Here’s an idea: why aren’t all surfaces coated in photosensitive materials? What if everyone’s home was coated in the stuff? It’s possible.

Scientists have invented a plastic solar cell that can turn the sun’s power into electrical energy, even on a cloudy day.

The plastic material uses nanotechnology and contains the first solar cells able to harness the sun’s invisible, infrared rays. The breakthrough has led theorists to predict that plastic solar cells could one day become five times more efficient than current solar cell technology.

Like paint, the composite can be sprayed onto other materials and used as portable electricity. A sweater coated in the material could power a cell phone or other wireless devices. A hydrogen-powered car painted with the film could potentially convert enough energy into electricity to continually recharge the car’s battery.

Same can go for small amounts of wind generation, geothermal, tidal and anything else we can harness. Walking could be a source of power if we chose to capture it.

Power systems need to be more like the Internet. With the Internet, breakdowns along the way are not noticed system-wide because information is routed from everywhere, to everywhere, by everyone on the grid. Same should go for power. Power should come from everyone, be used by everyone, and have no central generation point, with only the grid system itself being a public utility.

One day we will look back at the days of central power generation and laugh. People paid for something that surrounded them, and only for a lack of simple technologies.