editorial

Making A Hard Choice

by John G. Falcioni, Editor-In-Chief

Historically, the U.S. power industry began outsourcing even before World War II, as the equipment for power plants was largely imported in those years. The postwar industrial boom made the United States nearly self-sufficient in power generation. But about 20 years ago, manufacturers concerned with inflating costs looked toward global outsourcing. Today, the trend has grown, especially in investor-owned utilities.

Cost remains a key reason for global outsourcing. The dearth of engineering graduates entering the power engineering area and filling important jobs is another.

For the U.S. power industry, the decision whether to outsource or not is basically the same as it is in other industries: a choice between social responsibility to American suppliers and the responsibility to results-driven investors. And, given the choice, it is clear that engineers living outside the borders of the United States will fill more and more of those jobs.

You May Be Green by Jeffrey Winters, Supplement Editor

As I look over the articles in this issue of Power & Energy, I see technological and engineering advances in the industry that are, without even trying, great for the environment. Lee Langston, in his review of 2003 in the gas turbine industry ("A Year of Turbulence"), makes the point well. The latest combined-cycle power plants are almost 60 percent efficient; they capture nearly twice the available energy that older conventional power plants do. Efficiency is stock-in-trade of power engineering, but it produces wonderful side effects: less fuel used to do the same amount of work. Anyone who doesn't include gas turbines in green technologies isn't looking at a big enough picture. Likewise, the small generating projects in the city of San Luis Obispo, Calif., can be thought of as green energy. Sure, as Barbara Wolcott reports in her article ("City Lights"), the driving force behind the refurbishing of an old hydroelectric plant and the installation of geothermal heating systems may have been the quest for energy stability, if not independence from the statewide grid. But the effect has been a huge plus for the environment. Every watt saved or ton of coal left unburned is both an engineering triumph and an ecological victory. The authors of "Swine Oil" offer a similar win-win scenario. The animal waste that results from large-scale hog farming has become a headache for agribusiness and environmentalists alike. But research into the problem indicates that this raw, er, material can be transformed into a small but substantial source of fuel. Engineering a health hazard into a renewable energy source seems like a green solution to me, even if the typical hog farmer never had a kind word for environmentalists. That's the thing. Even if they will never admit it, engineers are solving environmental problems every day. And as it embraces new approaches and new technologies, the power and energy industry becomes greener and greener.

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