Our Need for Energy: Electricity
The electricity case focuses on the way new technologies shape society while also being shaped by social and economic decisions. During the nineteenth century, electricity gradually replaced steam as a major source of power. Inventions such as the battery, the electric dynamo, the lightbulb, AC generators, and AC motors made it possible to light cities, power transportation systems, and transmit information across long distances. The case focuses especially on the competition between DC and AC systems. Although AC was better suited for long-distance transmission, DC systems remained influential for years because many early users and companies had already invested in them. The central question of this case is what engineers should do, if anything, to prevent technological lock-in, where an inferior or less useful technology remains in place because people, businesses, and institutions have already organized themselves around it. This case highlights the fact that engineering decisions are not only technical decisions; they also shape future social possibilities by making some technological paths easier to follow and others harder to adopt.