We cannot solve problems by using the kind of thinking that created that problem, said Einstein. And that was what I kept thinking as I read about the Living Energy Farm, who have come up with a dramatically different approach to using renewable energy that they call ‘daylight drive’.

It took me a little while to grasp exactly how revolutionary LEF’s approach to generating energy is. Their DC (direct current) powering of appliances is quite different from our AC (alternating current) world. Alternating current can travel huge distances, but can only tolerate a small voltage variation. DC can tolerate quite large voltage variations but transmission distance is very limited. Alexis Zeigler explains it here.

It is an approach that holds huge promise for areas that have limited electrical infrastructure, like Navajo communities in the US and in Puerto Rico. They have proven it works, there and at their farm, which has operated this way for more than a decade. And the people who really understand electrical systems and electronics think it works, too.