Exergy and the City: The Technology and Sociology of Power (Failure)

Abstract

Blackouts—the total loss of electrical power—serve as a reminder of how dependent the modern world and particularly urban areas have become on electricity and the appliances it powers. To understand them we consider the critical nature of electrical infrastructure. In order to provide general patterns from specific cases, a large number of blackouts have been analyzed. Irrespective of cause, they display similar effects. These include measurable economic losses and less easily quantified social costs. We discuss financial damage, food safety, crime, transport, and problems caused by diesel generators. This is more than just a record of past failures; blackouts are dress rehearsals for the future in which they will appear with greater frequency and severity. While energy cannot be destroyed, exergy—the available energy within a system—can be. Exergy is concerned with energy within an “environment;” in this case a city. The bottom line is simple: no matter how “smart” a city may be, it becomes “dumb” when the power goes out.

Keywords:

• Blackouts
• Network Failure
• Critical Infrastructure
• Electricity
• Cities

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the editor and the anonymous referees for their constructive and insightful comments.

Note on Contributors

Hugh Byrd is professor of architecture at the University of Lincoln, UK.

Steve Matthewman is an associate professor in the department of sociology at the University of Auckland, New Zealand.

Notes

1. “Addiction” is not used here in a strict clinical sense but it is used to signal notions of physical and psychological dependence.