The smart-grid solution

摘要

As a young boy in Iran in the mid-1960s, I often accompanied my father and my mother to rural villages where, as a physician and a Red Cross representative, they voluntarily treated people. I witnessed how electricity improved the lives of families who were scratching out livings on parched plots of land. Suddenly, communities had irrigation, new schools and medical facilities. More babies survived, and businesses moved in. Later, in New York City, I experienced the chaotic blackout of July 1977 when lightning strikes cut power to nine million residents for 24 hours. There were fires, cases of looting and thousands of arrests, but also tales of strangers helping others. Deeply affected by the ability of electricity to transform lives, I pursued a career in electrical engineering.