The U.S. economy has grown at breakneck speed over the last eight years. Traditionally, economic growth of this kind has been accompanied by a large increase in energy demand. At the key crossing points of the Internet, bundles of cable branch out into office buildings and weave their way through cabinets packed with servers and routers and switches. These are the factories of the New Economy, gobbling up megawatts of power to support millions of dollars worth of e-commerce. SDL Inc. The skyrocketing mercury overtaxed the area's electricity grid, culminating in blown transformers and rolling blackouts in much of the Bay Area.
Some people look at the Web and see ones and zeros.
In Roger Duncan's eyes, it's all nines. Faced with energy shortfalls and an aging power grid, Internet Economy companies search for solutions. The Internet is creating unprecedented demand for electrical power and, lately, for electric utility stocks. The Internet Economy wouldn't be very impressive if someone turned off the power. This is not available online, it must be purchased.