The blackout of 2003 illuminated just how dependent America is on
electricity. It was not just that some 50 million people in eight
states and Ontario were cut off from their televisions, microwaves,
ATMs, and email. Without the electrical juice to keep their sockets
alive, factory managers were forced to close production lines, city
managers shut down water deliveries, grocery store clerks watched
their frozen inventory slowly melt away. Economists estimated that
the blackout cost Americans $5 billion even as energy analysts were
predicting that a similar blackout could happen again. The
catastrophe forced us to marvel at the unusual ability of
sub-microscopic particles to move like waves inside a wire and
cause bulbs to glow. It highlighted the complex requirements for
managing the massive generators, transformers, transmission lines,
and switch boxes needed to tap and deliver flowing electrons. It
encouraged us to recognize the profound impact of electricity on
all aspects of commerce and culture. Such events as the blackout,
the Enron debacle, and the California "brownouts" also reveal the
cracks in a 100-year-old industry structure that have been building
ever since Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse, and their
contemporaries first managed to harness electricity and make it
available to the masses, and tycoons, such as Sam Insull and George
Norris, began to concentrate financial control and political
influence. From Edison to Enron traces the controversial history of
this $210 billion industry--the nation's largest--showcasing the
key individuals, technological innovations, corporate machinations,
and political battles that have been waged over its domination.
Munson maintains thattoday's technological and regulatory
infrastructure, as a function of its history, is a relic that has
long outlived its usefulness; he points out that two-thirds of the
fuel burned to generate electricity is lost, that Americans pay
roughly $100 billion too much each year for heat and power, and
that environmentally unfriendly generators are the nation's largest
polluters. Meanwhile, innovations in technology and business models
are being blocked by entrenched monopolies. Ultimately, Munson
argues that current policies and practices, including those favored
by the Bush Administration, are preventing entrepreneurs from
producing more efficient, healthy, and sustainable power supplies.
Moreover, he presents an agenda for business and policy reforms
that will stimulate economic development in the United States and
around the world.
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