Amory Lovins, Bill Hogan, Alfred Kahn, Gina McCarthy, etc.
It's January 1, 1990. Electric utilities are vertically integrated. The '92 Act is two years off. RTOs and ESCOs are unheard of.
Coal dominates the generation mix. Control technologies for emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are slowly evolving. As are gas combined-cycle technologies. Gas is drilled for vertically.
The Clean Air Act is surprisingly amended later in the year. Few are wary of climate change, aka global warming.
Solar and wind aren't yet promising resources. Energy efficiency and demand-response programs are, thanks to integrated resource planning, albeit at a modest scale.
Twenty-six years later, much has changed and is changing. Who drove the changes? Who have been the ten most influential leaders that shaped our world of utilities?
Who would you name? Write me at mitnick@fortnightly.com.
Here's twenty obvious names you might consider, in no particular order:
- Environmentalist Amory Lovins
- Professors Bill Hogan and Alfred Kahn
- EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy
- Utility CEOs Jim Rogers, John Rowe and Tom Fanning
- EEI President Tom Kuhn
- POTUS Barack Obama
- Governors Pete Wilson, Jerry Brown and George Pataki
- Commission Chairs Dan Fessler, John Bryson (later a utility CEO), Peter Bradford, Audrey Zibelman
- FERC Chair Jon Wellinghoff
- Enron CEO and COO Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling
- Entrepreneur Elon Musk
What do you think? Who should we kick off the island? And who have I missed? Also, honorable mentions?
Who says the magazine for commentary, opinion and debate on utility regulation and policy since 1929, Public Utilities Fortnightly, cannot be fun sometimes?
Steve Mitnick, Editor-in-Chief, Public Utilities Fortnightly
E-mail me: mitnick@fortnightly.com
