Conversation with Energy Storage Association
John Hargrove is President and CEO of the Association of Energy Services Professionals.
Just prior to the summer conference of the Association of Energy Services Professionals, in Indianapolis, I had an opportunity to sit down and record a podcast with Kelly Speakes-Backman, CEO of the Energy Storage Association, ESA.
Ironically, as I set up the recording, and anticipated how people would listen to it, I couldn't help but notice all of the new devices demanding electricity, often stored in batteries.
Those included the cell phones on which we were talking, the recording equipment, the desktop computer to edit the piece, and all of the tablets, phones, computers and listening devices on which it would eventually play.
From small devices such as phones and tablets, to larger users of electricity such as vehicles and data centers, we are, as Speakes-Backman points out, "becoming more and more dependent on electricity to manage our daily lives."
The damages created by disruptions are far more serious than what we used to refer to as blackouts. They could mean that critical data, for the operation of aircraft and railways, hospitals, and emergency response systems, are not getting where they need to go.
In the wide view, dependence on electricity is not bad. Particularly in the case of electric vehicles, it represents a shift from fossil fuels and the countries that we have historically been dependent on to provide them.