Can the grid provide enough electric power for us just to live?
Sorry about the long post, but I've spent the last decade working in the electricity supply industry, and this is indeed a very good question to ask.
We have nowhere near sufficient generation capacity to ensure reliable electricity supply over the next 15 to 20 years (and beyond, if the nuclear stations don't get built), and Ofgem has prepared and published their plans for rolling blackouts which will be instituted when grid demand starts exceeding supply capacity on a regular basis.The challenge is to figure out creative ways around the issues, ways which don't involve continuing to mess up the planet with fossil fuel consumption.
One of the avenues that is being explored at the moment is based on the idea that the use of electric cars will take off geometrically, and that people will increasingly turn to micro-generation to secure electricity supplies for their own homes and communities. Of one thing we can be sure: when people are confronted with the prospect of not having a secure electricity supply, they will be much more willing to engage in finding solutions.
One such possibility is that the supply companies and customers work in collaboration: a domestic customer could fit solar panels, a Tesla wall-type domestic battery system, and a charging point for heir electric car. The car will charge overnight from the grid, when there is generally plenty of spare capacity. In the daytime, when the sun is shining and the domestic system is topping up the Batteries, the grid will be able to call on the stored charge to assist with meeting demand on the grid.
No longer will domestic and business customers be passive recipients of a service, the will have the chance to become active partners - and of course there will be significant financial incentives so to do.
That's just one example: there are a lot of very bright graduates out there doing all sorts of blue-sky thinking that we old crusties can't really get to grips with, but I see it as being very exciting - they have a challenge they really want to get right, it's their future and I feel quite privileged to have sight of their work.
