Nothing has shaped modern human life on this planet more than electricity. It powers our homes, our appliances, our heating and cooling systems, our electronics, our computers, our phones and the internet. It powers industry, science, research, hospitals, agriculture, manufacturing, construction, and public transportation. Electricity is so essential that we only realize how dependent we are on it when it is no longer available. As recent historic events have shown, including fires, floods, hurricanes and other severe weather events, our power grids are vulnerable to failure. They are built on aging and inadequate infrastructure. Whether these systems rely on the legacy electrical power generating systems or they are increasingly dependent on solar and wind, there are issues that we need to face in order to meet higher and higher demand. Global Power Outages In recent years, significant power outages caused by various events have affected countries all over the world. Natural disasters have shut down power grids and cut millions of people off for hours, days and sometimes even weeks. It is projected that violent weather and natural disasters will increase in frequency and severity due to climate change. Power outages caused by these events are inevitable. Just look at the recent past. Hurricane Ida tore a path of destruction through Lousiana in 2021, leaving over a million Americans in darkness for several days. A severe winte...
