Evolving the Nation's Energy Infrastructure: A Challenging System Issue for the Twenty-First Century; Preprint

Over the next several decades, a profound transformation of the global energy enterprise will occur driven largely by population growth and economic development. How this growing demand for energy is met poses one of the most complex and challenging issues of our time. The current national energy dialogue reflects the challenge in simultaneously considering the social, political, economic, and technical issues as the energy system is defined, technical targets are established, and programs and investments are implemented to meet those technical targets. This paper examines the general concepts and options for meeting this challenge