The power of electronic power management

Climbing oil prices, increasing demand for energy, and energy supply disruptions have -once again -focused the public interest on energy and energy security issues. In this paper we discuss the power of electronics as a means for addressing current challenges in energy production, distribution, and for using energy more efficiently than today. It is argued that the full power of electronic energy management has yet to be exploited. One reason for this lies in a still largely unutilized opportunity for improving the energy efficiency of systems in many application areas. State-of-the-art electronic control systems will play an ever increasing part in managing energy systems. The realization of the enormous potential of this technology will require new forms of collaboration of the energy and information technology sector and an improved shared vision of public policy makers and the industry.