Electricity is more than energy. Over the last century, it has become a prime mover for innovation and the lifeblood of the global economy. In the next century, it will play an even larger transformative role in the world. EPRI’s Electricity Technology Roadmap presents a comprehensive vision of the promise of electricity-based innovation over the next 50 years. Key findings include the following:

• Electricity innovation is central to sustainable world development.
• Universal global electrification is necessary to close the economic divide now bifurcating the world into have and have-not nations.
• New technology is needed to transform the electricity infrastructure to adequately support the burgeoning global “digital society.”
• Development of a portfolio of clean energy options for all parts of the world must be accelerated to meet the demands for economic opportunity while protecting the earth.

Electrification of the one-third of the world’s population currently without commercial energy of any kind is an essential first step to breaking free of the poverty and hopelessness that are the greatest environmental threats of the 21st century. The second step of inclusion and empowerment includes education, training, and access to the networks and computers that are enabling rapid growth in productivity and in the efficient use of resources.

The Roadmap identifies the need for global cooperation on environmental issues while providing the energy needed to electrify the world. Historical decarbonization rates of the global energy system must be accelerated to meet likely long-term constraints on carbon emissions. Electricity is central to meeting this challenge, but a robust portfolio of generation, storage, and delivery options, plus more efficient end-use technologies, must be developed.

The paper concludes with a call for accelerated energy research and development. Global collaboration is the most effective way to ensure that necessary resources are committed and properly focused.

This page updated August 30, 2001