editorial

Harnessing Power Sources

by John G. Falcioni, Editor-In-Chief

You're reading the premier issue of Power & Energy magazine, a publication brought to you by the editors of Mechanical Engineering magazine.

This publication is aimed at engineers who create or harness primary power sources. Not just plant managers and pipeline managers, but also regulators, executives, investors, and anyone connected with the business of power and energy.

Each issue of Power & Energy (this year, we are scheduled to publish three issues: March, June, and October) will deliver articles about people, technologies, and ideas that help illuminate the Big Picture. Articles will spotlight solutions, whether they are technological breakthroughs working their way out of the research lab or new business practices that can deliver a superior product more efficiently.

I look forward to hearing from you on how we're doing to fulfill this important mission.

True Grid by Jeffrey Winters, Supplement Editor

The ASME offices are 20 stories up in a Manhattan office tower. The Empire State Building stands just two blocks away, and on a clear day you can make out Park Slope in Brooklyn, where I live. Usually, though, you can go weeks or months without thinking about the height of the building. Or of the trains and subways that bring workers into the city. Or the rest of the electrically powered infrastructure that we rely on to do even the simplest things. August 14, 2003, was not one of those days. As the lights flickered off that summer afternoon, it was hard to find anything that wasn't instantly transformed by the lack of electricity. The commute home began with a walk down 20-some flights of dark stairs. Once we reached the street, we saw a great river of humanity flowing north and south. There was little to do but join it. If the human drama of the blackout—50 million people sitting in the dark—was intoxicating, the financial impact was sobering. The final toll ran into the billions of dollars. Cities such as Detroit and Toronto were shut for days as engineers worked to reestablish a stable electrical grid. The Great Blackout of 2003 came as a shock to everyone—except those who had been watching the stability of the grid. This issue of Power & Energy features two articles that examine the power grid and how to prevent another regional blackout. Lawrence T. Papay looks at the near term—how we can increase grid reliability through the introduction of new technology. Roger Anderson and Albert Boulanger, setting their sights farther down the line, advocate creating an advanced system architecture that would automatically recognize and respond to disruptions on the grid. As Papay, Anderson, and Boulanger remind us, efforts to defend the grid against more regional outages is really a race against time. If we don't make a concerted, coordinated effort to shore up the system's reliability, last summer's blackout may become a mild prelude to an onrushing disaster.

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