Energy Transition: The Role of Direct Current Electricity

In recent years, environmental sustainability has become an issue addressed at various levels: by national governments, supranational institutions, companies in all production sectors, and also by private citizens; the latter, for example, are becoming increasingly aware of ecological issues and their behaviour is increasingly consistent in this respect.
One thing is certain, the sustainability challenges are many and complex, so all actors involved need to pull in the same direction if concrete results are to be achieved.
One of these challenges, perhaps the most important, is the so-called energy transition. Given its relevance, let us try to understand what is meant by this expression.

What is energy transition?

When we talk about energy transition, we are referring to the transition from a system that is based on fossil energy sources (i.e. non-renewable energy sources such as oil, coal, natural gas, etc.) to a system that employs renewable energy sources, such as solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, etc. 

It is well understood that this is a process that requires major technological, social and economic changes.

Energy transition and direct current  

Everyone, or almost everyone, agrees that one of the most effective ways to reduce energy consumption and polluting emissions is to increase the use of renewable energy sources in private, commercial and production buildings.
A great deal has been done in this regard over the past twenty years, as witnessed also by the many tax breaks granted by national governments to companies and individuals who make use of green forms of energy.
A further step should be to use direct current (DC) instead of alternating current (AC). In fact, direct current is qualitatively good, efficient, stable, little subject to fluctuations and interference, and particularly safe.
The problem is that it is not exploited within buildings because their electrical grid systems are designed to operate with alternating current, so much so that photovoltaic systems, which convert solar energy into electrical energy in the form of direct current, are associated with an inverter that converts it into alternating current.
This conversion process results in a loss of energy and a reduction in quality and efficiency levels, not to mention the higher costs involved.

For a greener world, direct current must be considered

For a greener world, the use of DC power supply is inescapable. The installation of photovoltaic systems (which produce electricity in this form) is constantly increasing, the electrification of cars is a process now underway, and batteries are recharged with direct current; industrial storage systems also make use of it, and the same can be said of many devices used in buildings (such as LED bulbs, ballasts, etc.).
It therefore seems logical to avoid the costly and inefficient process of converting from DC to AC.

Further to the above mentioned observations, it is agreed that in order to have a more sustainable world both today and in the future, it is necessary that the energy transition also includes the transition from one form of current to another, and this, unlike in the 19th century, could lead to the almost total use of direct current electricity grids.

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