There's been no shortage of news coverage of the power crisis in California and the Bush administration's energy policy. Still, all those articles have managed to miss a key part of the story: how the electric power grid actually works, and what effect new technology might have on the shortages that already beset California and are imminent in other parts of the country. Like the air traffic system or the telephone system, the power grid remains one of those gigantic human constructions that lurk in the background of policy controversies but never make it into the light of day. Technology Review is changing that.

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