Breaking the Myths of Energy Innovation with Energised Futures
In a world increasingly driven by technology and sustainability, understanding how energy works is more important than ever. To guide us through complex topics, the Energised Futures team is helping to bust some of the most persistent myths and shed light on the fascinating truths behind modern energy systems.
Myth #1: Electricity Flows Through Wires Like Water Through Pipes
The Truth, explained by Ben Krikler, Head of Energised Futures: This is one of the most common misconceptions. While it's easy to visualise electricity as a stream of electrons flowing through a wire like water in a pipe, the reality is far more intriguing. Electricity primarily travels through the electromagnetic field that surrounds the wire, not just through the wire itself. The wire acts more like a guide or a waveguide. The energy is transmitted in the space around the conductor, and this is why electricity can almost travel at the speed of light. While the electrons inside the wire move slowly, what actually delivers power quickly is the propagation of the electromagnetic wave.
Myth #2: Electric Vehicles Will Overload the Grid
Gunjan Arora, Program Operations and Controls Lead at Energised Futures, explains why the future of electric vehicles (EVs) is smarter than we think. As EV adoption grows, concerns about grid overload are understandable, but largely outdated. Energy innovators are already preparing for this shift with smart charging, off-peak incentives, and most excitingly, Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) technology. At Energised Futures, we’re actively exploring Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) solutions, including V2G to help build a smarter and flexible energy system, and enable more people to play an active role in the energy transition.
Myth #3: Energy Innovation is Just About Technology
Ben Krikler reminds us that innovation isn’t just about better technology, it’s also about people. Some of the biggest breakthroughs in energy come from social innovation: how communities engage, adopt, and shape new systems. Energised Futures’ involvement in projects like LocalRES show community trust, participation, and shared ownership are just as critical as smart meters or solar panels. In fact, social resistance and fear of change are some of the biggest challenges to the energy transition - not the technology itself. That’s why these projects focus on co-designing energy systems with communities, not just for them.
Myth #4: We can just turn power plants on and off as needed, and store excess renewable energy for later.
Fairouz Zobiri, Research Engineer at Energised Futures explains why balancing the grid is more complex than flipping a switch. The power grid is not a giant battery. We can’t store large amounts of electricity easily or cheaply. Most electricity must be used the moment it’s generated, and there always needs to be a balance between supply and demand. While some storage technologies exist (batteries and pumped hydro), they’re still limited in scale and cost. Traditional power plants (coal or nuclear) are not agile - they take hours or even days to ramp up or down. This makes it hard to respond quickly to changes in demand or supply. That’s where renewables come in. Solar and wind are fast and flexible, but they’re also variable. To manage this, operators rely on a mix of demand response (shifting when we use power), traditional generators, storage solutions like batteries and hydro, and smart grid technologies. So, the future isn’t about flipping switches, it’s about orchestrating a complex, dynamic system where renewables play a central, but carefully managed, role.
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