4 IEEE power & energy magazine may/june 2012

T
THE PARADIGMS THAT ARE
faced by the global power industry
today are more complicated and con-
fused than I have experienced during
my 50-year career in the industry. We
are simultaneously faced with con-
fronting global warming issues, the
carbon footprints associated with fos-
sil fuel burning emissions, etc., while
the demand for energy soars as a result
of the rapid industrialization of nations
coupled with an ever-increasing global
population exacerbating the problem.
It was a sobering picture that was
presented to our Editorial Board in
2011, punctuated by the then-recent
events at the Fukushima Daiichi nucle-
ar site in Japan that led to the selection
of the theme of this issueenergy met-
rics worldwide: examining traditional
and renewable sources of energy. Hugh
Rudnick, who led the discussion at that
meeting, offered to accept a leadership
role in the preparation of the issue and
the selection of a global set of authors
to attempt to present a worldwide view
of what is driving the electricity matri-
ces in different parts of our world.
In This Issue
That Hugh succeeded will be obvious
as you read the feature articles that
emanate from diverse global locations:
China, India, the United States, Latin
America, and Africa. Yet another ar-
ticle, from the World Bank, offers a
global picture that helps to put the
geographic articles into perspective. I
have left it to Hugh who, in his Guest
Editorial, will introduce each of the
articles to convey the gist of their mes-
sages to our readers. The articles, in
order of appearance, are as follows:
Twin Peaks by Marcelino
Madrigal, Mikul Bhatia, Gabri-
ela Elizondo, Ashok Sarkar, and
Masami Kojima
Forward Pass by Timothy D.
Heidel, John G. Kassakian, and
Richard Schmalensee
Challenges Ahead by Yunhe
Hou and Jin Zhong
Expansion Pressure by Bernar-
do Bezerra, Sebastian Mocarquer,
Luiz Barroso, and Hugh Rudnick
Growing Pains by Jyoti Parikh
and Kirit Parikh
A Wealth of Possibilities by
Pat Naidoo and P.A. Bacela.
Our issues In My View column,
which Hugh will also introduce, of-
fers an evaluation of the prospects for
nuclear power in the wake of the 2010
Japanese disaster.
I believe this issue will offer our
readers a most complete and compre-
hensive picture of where we came from,
where we are at, and what may be the
future energy choices of our industry.
Recognitions
The Society News column is one of
great interest. We offer the candidates
for the position of IEEE Division VII di-
rector-elect in 2013 (who will then serve
as the Division director in 20142015)
who have been nominated by the PES
Nominations and Appointment Com-
mittee and approved by the Governing
Board. The July issue will offer detailed
information about these candidates.
Also in the Society News col-
umn are news of two of the four PES
members who have been honored as
recipients of IEEE recognition. They
are IEEE Power Engineering Medal
winner Edmund O. Schweitzer III
and IEEE Charles Proteus Steinmetz
Award winner Daleep Mohla.
An IEEE Milestone
in History
Our issues History column is one very
close to my heart. As the historian of the
New York Section, it was my privilege
to be the sponsor of an IEEE Milestone
event honoring the Edison Pearl Street
Station, which to my amazement had
never occurred given its signicance.
Research revealed that this had been
energy metrics
examining traditional and renewable sources
Mel Olken
Digital Object Identier 10.1109/MPE.2012.2187736
Date of publication: 19 April 2012
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DIGITAL VISION
6 IEEE power & energy magazine may/june 2012
the result of the histor-
ic site being a parking lot
for many years. Working
with the IEEE History
Center, we concluded
that Con Edison, our
local utility, the direct
descendent of the Edi-
son company that built
the Pearl Street Station,
might be considered for
the site of the milestone
plaque. That provided
the nal impetus to pro-
ceed with the project.
It was while work-
ing on the milestone that
I learned of what Robert
Lobenstein (Loby) was attempting
to do with an Edison 100 kW dyna-
mo from the 1880s. The juxtaposition
of these two projects
seemed inevitable and
fortunately my longtime
friend Ronald Bozgo,
who was then Con Edi-
son VP of Engineering,
was in total agreement
when I approached him.
And the rest is history, if
Im allowed a pun. Ron
and I agreed that when
Loby showed us this
beautifully refurbished
120-year-old machine
in June 2010, and then
actually ran it, this was
one of the most memo-
rable experiences of
each of our engineering careers.
I believe this column, written by
Loby and superbly edited by Carl Sulz-
berger, will be one that our readers re-
member. I can report that, though the
details were well known to me in ad-
vance, I thoroughly enjoyed reading the
column and feeling a part of history.
Article Index
I want to alert our readers to a feature
recently posted on the PES Web site,
an index of all feature articles that
have appeared in this magazine from
its inception through 2010 (with 2011
to be added in the near future). The
direct link is http://www.ieee-pes.org/
images/pdf/2003-2010-paem-index.
pdf. I want to compliment and thank
Randi Scholnick of the PES Executive
Ofce staff for the meticulous work
that was required to complete this
project.

p&e
Our issues
In My View
column offers
an evaluation
of the prospects
for nuclear
power in the
wake of the
2010 Japanese
disaster.