Progress in the Electric Power Industry

The subject of this paper concerns the progress that has been made in the generation of electricity by steam and its distribution. It is significant that the two authors selected by your committee to discuss this subject are both power plant designers, and that their two working lifetimes cover the whole history of electric power generation since its beginning. That there has been progress in the electric power industry during this brief span of years is well illustrated by Figure 1, which shows that electrical residential rates on a national basis have a history of continuously lowering during the past 50 years while, at the same time, the cost index has been continuously rising. Where else than in the electric power industry can such a record of progress be shown?