Electricity as a Social Force

Abstract

Until recent years the measure of a nation's economic and social prosperity was its consumption of electricity. Over the course of time, electricity has come to be considered indispensable. Thus, the aim of both government and industry was directed towards reducing the cost of power. These aims and goals are now being seriously questioned by the environmental movement. In the developing struggle it is going to be necessary to institute an orderly procedure by which solutions to these issues may be discovered. Such procedures must not, however, allow any one segment of society to impose its value system upon another. This can be prevented if everyone is given a reasonable opportunity to express his own values, during both planning and decision-making. Without full public participation there is a serious danger that society will never agree to accept the increased restrictions on its conduct which will be necessary in years to come if man is to survive.