A behind-the-scenes expose relating why our electricity system is headed for a state of emergency-and what can be done to head it off. Most people don't realize that skyrocketing global energy demand and economic growth severely affect the supply of electricity. Between production (power plants) and delivery is an antiquated, "third-world" transmission grid that is in desperate need of hardening against breakdowns, terrorist attacks, inadequate carrying capacity, and operational obsolescence. And while electricity doesn't hold the headlines or dramatic power of oil, the ability to ensure its uninterrupted supply at a reasonable price is even more essential to global survival and prosperity. This book is today's most detailed, in-depth examination of this largely unreported looming energy crisis. Written by one of the world's top electricity industry experts, it covers numerous hot button economic and political issues-free markets versus regulation; energy independence versus foreign imports; nuclear power, global warming, and other environmental issues; and much more. Beyond just uncovering and illuminating the problems, however, it proposes a comprehensive road map of technical solutions and regulatory reform from both the production and demand sides of the equation-a framework for rethinking, rebuilding, and enhancing the entire electricity production and delivery infrastructure. Prescriptive and provocative, it will redefine the simmering debate on how the world can-and must-act now to head off a global catastrophe, one that could eventually wreak even more havoc than the ongoing oil crisis.

Preface -- Acknowledgments -- The worst-case scenario -- Night of the living dead -- The production and delivery value chain -- Around the world, around town -- Preventing the worst case -- Insecurities, vulnerabilities, and an uneasy state of the industry -- Why a first-world country has a third-world grid -- Living with a transaction economy -- The brain drain -- Environmental imperatives -- Houston, we have a problem -- The impact of lengthening supply lines : how elastic are they? -- Fighting "the last war," planning the next one -- It's that '70s show -- Sticker shock (without the sticker) -- Electricity storage -- Coal : extracting its full value -- Exercising the nuclear option -- Savvy consumption, empowering ratepayers -- Distributed power -- Redefining the grid with real intelligence -- The rest of the world -- A vision for the future: daydream, nightmare, or a good night's rest? -- Postscript: personal accountability -- Bibliography -- About the author -- Index.