The alternative is a spiraling economic burden for a shrinking work force. Electricity is expected to play a profound role in helping society seize the opportunities and manage the threats emerging in the new century. The revolution in the way energy and electricity are used and valued The global demographic explosion A series of escalating environmental challenges related to population growth 2. As key to both energy efficiency and energy diversity, electricity will increasingly shoulder society's burden for energy-related environmental control and cleanup. The pace and scope of technological change in the electricity industry is greater today than at any time since the dawn of commercial electrification.
Electricity is the equal opportunity medium that brings diverse energy sources to market.
It is the key to diversifying transportation fuels beyond petroleum, with enormous strategic advantages for global security. The Roadmap envisions the ability to cut global energy intensity, while accelerating the decarbonization of the global energy system through electrification. A new mega-infrastructure is emerging from the convergence of electricity and communications. The digital microprocessor is penetrating every aspect of the economy and society, thereby increasing the efficiency and precision advantages of electricity to the level, literally, of individual electrons. Failure to aggressively pursue these network capabilities carries large opportunity costs, including higher infrastructure costs as utility service integration is slowed or stopped, as well as constraints on the development of productivity-enhancing technology.