The Grid: The Fraying Wires Between Americans and Our Energy Future

Born in Portland, Oregon, Bakke lives in Montreal.. from the University of Chicago in Cultural Anthropology. Her work focuses on the chaos and creativity that emerges during social, cultural, and technological transitions. For the past decade she has been researching and writing about the changing culture of electricity in the United States. Gretchen Bakke holds a Ph.D. S

If we want a cleaner energy future, we're going to need a smarter grid." - Elizabeth Kolbert, author of THE SIXTH EXTINCTION"A remarkable achievement. This is a smart, deeply reported, poetic book about how electricity moves through our lives (and why it sometimes doesn’t). "Bakke describes the grid as far more than towers and wires She leads readers through a history of the grid and a maze of financial, legal, regulatory, and environmental considerations with sprightly good humor Finally, Bakke sketches a possible design of the ‘intelligent grid’ of the future A lively analysis." - Kirkus Reviews"Hopefully, Bakke’s startling exposé revealing how electricity sloshes around the country across a precarious grid will be a wake-up call." - Booklist"Gretchen Bakke shows that everything is, indeed, connected. Bakke deftly shows us how a system most of us are happy to ignore--the electrical grid--is both inseparable from everything we

Insightful but Verbose Book Shark The Grid: The Fraying Wires Between Americans and Our Energy Future by Gretchen Bakke“The Grid” is an insightful yet verbose book on America’s grid technology; it’s history together with the laws, people and logic that brought it into existence. Author Gretchen Bakke holds a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology and is currently a professor at McGill University in. Steelblue said Don't Miss This. I suspect that most people will read this title and say that will be way too technical for me. Nothing could be further from the truth. Ms Bakke does a spectacular job of making the complex eminently understandable. Don't pass this one by because you don't think you'll understand. You should know about this.. MyViewPoint said Good overview of electricity's role in America. Author presented historical events to describe how our existing GRID came to pass (and occasionally fail). The current Grid needs to concern us all with Utilities desperately trying to make their business model work. Author discusses legislative influence at both state and federal levels. Discussed new technology impact (wind, solar, and electric-cars with battery potential - no p

Today, as we invest great hope in new energy sources--solar, wind, and other alternatives--the grid is what stands most firmly in the way of a brighter energy future. Most of all, her focus is on how Americans are changing the grid right now, sometimes with gumption and big dreams and sometimes with legislation or the brandishing of guns.The Grid tells--entertainingly, perceptively--the story of what has been called "the largest machine in the world”: its fascinating history, its problematic present, and its potential role in a brighter, cleaner future.. The grid, she argues, is an essentially American