Welcome to EnergyTech2018!
Like a fine wine, some things continue to get better as they ripen with age. In this case, the “thing” is neither a wine or a cheese, its an idea born a decade ago from the newly minted North Ohio chapter of INCOSE (International Council on Systems Engineering), with support and encouragement of thought leaders at NASA’s Glenn Research Center. The idea then was simple in concept, derived from some core observations:
1) System Engineering is a mature discipline capable of solving complex, intractable problems;
2) our modern society has been plagued with a plethora of such problems, seemingly dormant but notably inherent within our infrastructure, and
3) some segments of our national infrastructure, like delivery of electricity, are vital to our continued civilized existence.
The national electric grid was then, and is still, a very complex system, demonstrably vulnerable to a number of potential threats and failure mechanisms (as witnessed during the 2003 eastern blackout, and subsequently by various cyber and other hostile attacks on power systems). Even more disconcerting is the growing awareness of the absolute dependency that virtually our entire civilization has on electricity, including the enabling of all critical infrastructure and any device that operates with any technology based on electrons. The dire consequences resulting from an event causing sustained and widespread loss of power has become the “nightmare scenario” of modern times.
So – the IDEA thing was, why not gather the best minds in systems and technology, establish a forum to discuss and focus on the problems with a disciplined “Systems” methodology, and help decision makers move forward with solutions.
Since 2009, when the initial (modest) gathering of engineers, scientists, technologists, utility professionals, model builders, and others was organized into a small conference at the Ohio Aerospace Institute, the “thing” has evolved. The original modest concept was of a broad perspective examination of our national energy infrastructure, i.e. – a “Systems Perspective”, with an intent to gain greater insight for managing its complexity. In recent times, EnergyTech has emerged as a unique, robust forum for technology experts, engineers, and system practitioners for presenting ideas and debating solutions that seek to address the challenges with the full scope of our collective, formidable capabilities. Several hundred speakers and panelists have presented their innovative thoughts and technology research to some thousand more attendees, which in turn has spurred further creative thinking about essential solutions.
Over the past decade we have witnessed the creative “fusion of energy and technology” to shed new light on our old grid and infrastructure problems. Have we achieved the desired resolution to the dreaded “nightmare scenario”? The answer is undoubtedly NO, but it must be noted that the problems in our legacy systems have been festering for over a century, with only recent awareness (elevated by speakers & contributors at EnergyTech) of the consequences. It is also clear that for effective mitigation of the risk spectrum, from cyber threats to physical attacks and electromagnetic effects, a convergence of thought on feasible approaches has begun to take shape. Several effective pathways for achieving needed resiliency of our electric power have been demonstrated and found feasible.
So the Idea thing remains as the quest for energy security continues. Until the challenges to our critical infrastructure are resolved, the re-engineering for energy protection and resiliency must go on. There is no doubt that whatever solutions emerge, EnergyTech participants and sponsors will play a role in those outcomes, continually improving the solutions like the fine wine. With their dedication and continued support :
EnergyTech is lighting the way to a brighter future.
