Shorting the Grid with Meredith Angwin

The Rational View podcast with Dr. Al Scott

In this episode I am lucky to be able to talk to an expert in the lifeblood of modern civilization, our electrical grid. The grid is the pulse that sustains civilization. It provides us with the energy to run our labour-saving appliances, it provides us with lights, it empowers our computers, it heats our homes, it refrigerates our food. Without it we would be tossed back to 19th century living conditions. It powers all of modern technology and allows us to communicate around the globe. The grid is also a curse. It is an industrial behemoth that emits dangerous pollution into the atmosphere. The burning of fossil fuels kills millions of people around the world every year from particulate pollution, and is one of the leading sources of greenhouse gas accumulation that is forcing the climate into a state it hasn’t been in since homo sapiens evolved half a million years ago. My guest will tell us about the hidden fragility of our electrical grid.

As a working chemist, Meredith Angwin headed projects that lowered pollution and increased reliability on the electric grid. Her work included pollution control for nitrogen oxides in gas-fired combustion turbines, and corrosion control in geothermal and nuclear systems. She was one of the first women to be a project manager at the Electric Power Research Institute. In semi-retirement, she became an advocate for nuclear power (one of the most environmentally sound forms of energy) and began to study and take part in grid oversight and governance. For four years, she served on the Coordinating Committee for the Consumer Liaison Group associated with ISO-NE, her local grid operator. She teaches courses and presents workshops on the electric grid. Her previous major book was Campaigning for Clean Air: Strategies for Pro-Nuclear Advocacy. Meredith’s newest book, Shorting the Grid, The Hidden Fragility of Our Electric Grid should be required reading for any politician in office today who needs to decide how to transition away from fossil fuels and fulfil our society’s obligation to future generations.

She and her husband George live in Vermont. They have two children and four grandchildren who live in the New York City area.

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