Sign-In
Cart
The Machine That Moves Electricity: The Hidden Technology That Built the Grid - and Could Determine America's Energy Future
Paperback
Technology & Engineering21st Century United States HistoryPhysics
Currently unavailable to order
Please enter your email and a message will be sent to you when this product becomes available on our website.
ISBN13: 9781088152850
Publisher: Douglas Hemme
Pages: 160
Weight: 0.44
Height: 0.40 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
Flip a switch, and light appears. Behind that simple act sits a machine most Americans have never consciously seen and could not name if asked: the power transformer. It is the device that made Thomas Edison's direct-current dream obsolete within a decade, the device that let a single power plant at Niagara Falls light cities two hundred miles away, and the device now sitting at the center of America's most urgent energy bottleneck.
In The Machine That Moves Electricity, Douglas Donovan traces the transformer from Michael Faraday's induction ring and the War of the Currents through the giant 400-ton units that had to be shipped by rail and barge to build the modern grid, into the factories struggling today to keep pace with a once-unthinkable surge in demand. Utilities that ordered transformers in 2021 are still waiting for delivery in 2026. Electrical steel, copper, and skilled labor have become as strategically important as the semiconductors that dominate the headlines-and just as scarce.
Written in the same accessible, deeply researched style as Donovan's A History of the United States Electrical Grid and The Reliability Frontier, this book stands on its own as the definitive popular account of the machine that quietly makes modern life possible, while completing the trilogy's picture of an American grid straining to meet an electric future nobody fully planned for.
Also from
Donovan, Douglas
The Dragon's Nuclear Renaissance: How China Built the World's Fastest-Growing Nuclear Power Industry
Donovan, Douglas
Paperback
When Time Bends: A Journey Through Einstein's Universe of Gravity, Speed, and the Elastic Nature of Time
Donovan, Douglas
Paperback
The Dragon's Nuclear Renaissance: How China Built the World's Fastest-Growing Nuclear Power Industry
Donovan, Douglas
Hardcover
When Time Bends: A Journey Through Einstein's Universe of Gravity, Speed, and the Elastic Nature of Time
Donovan, Douglas
Hardcover
The Dragon's Nuclear Renaissance: How China Built the World's Fastest-Growing Nuclear Power Industry
Donovan, Douglas
Paperback
The Machine That Moves Electricity: The Hidden Technology That Built the Grid - and Could Determine America's Energy Future
Donovan, Douglas
Paperback
Also in
Physics
The Formative Years of Relativity: The History and Meaning of Einstein's Princeton Lectures
Renn, Jürgen
Gutfreund, Hanoch
Hardcover
Physics of the Future: How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily Lives by the Year 2100
Kaku, Michio
Hardcover
How It All Works: All Scientific Laws and Phenomena Illustrated & Demonstrated
Dant, Adam
Clegg, Brian
Hardcover
Feynman's Lost Lecture: The Motion of Planets Around the Sun [With CDROM]
Goodstein, David L.
Paperback
The Edge of Space-Time: Particles, Poetry, and the Cosmic Dream Boogie
Prescod-Weinstein, Chanda
Hardcover
Lost in Space: 5,000 Facts for Navigating the Universe
Tyson, Neil Degrasse
Walker, Lindsey Nyx
Hardcover
5 Steps to a 5: AP Physics 1 2027: Practice AP Tests + AP Content Review + Digital Exams
Jacobs, Greg
Paperback
Just Visiting This Planet, Revised and Updated for the Twenty-First Century: Further Scientific Adventures of Merlin from Omniscia
Tyson, Neil Degrasse
Hardcover
What If? 10th Anniversary Edition: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions
Munroe, Randall
Hardcover
Astronomy 101, 2nd Edition: From Gravitational Waves and Merging Black Holes to New Exoplanets and Asteroid Samples, Key Theories, Discoveries, and Fa
Petersen, Carolyn Collins
Hardcover
Beyond Darwin: How Epigenetics, Quantum Science, and Cooperation Shape Humanity's Future
Lipton, Bruce H.
Hardcover
My Big TOE Awakening Discovery Inner Workings: The Complete My Big TOE Trilogy Unifying Philosophy, Physics and Metaphysics
Campbell, Thomas
Hardcover
Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher
Feynman, Richard P.
Leighton, Robert B.
Sands, Matthew
Paperback
Time's Second Arrow: Evolution, Order, and a New Law of Nature
Hazen, Robert M.
Wong, Michael L.
Hardcover
A New Science of Heaven: How the New Science of Plasma Physics Is Shedding Light on Spiritual Experience
Temple, Robert
Paperback
What If? 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions
Munroe, Randall
Hardcover
Princeton Review AP Physics 1 Premium Prep, 13th Edition: 5 Practice Tests + Digital Practice Online + Content Review
The Princeton Review
Paperback
Take Me to Your Leader: Perspectives on Your First Alien Encounter (Large Print Edition)
Tyson, Neil DeGrasse
Hardcover
The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey Into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred
Prescod-Weinstein, Chanda
Paperback
Do Aliens Speak Physics?: And Other Questions about Science and the Nature of Reality
Whiteson, Daniel
Warner, Andy
Hardcover
Strange Angel: The Otherworldly Life of Rocket Scientist John Whiteside Parsons
Pendle, George
Paperback
AP Physics 1 Premium, 2027: Prep Book with 4 Practice Tests + Comprehensive Review + Online Practice
Rideout, Kenneth, M. S.
Wolf, Jonathan, M. a. Ed M.
Paperback
American Prometheus (Pulitzer Prize Winner): The Inspiration for the Major Motion Picture Oppenheimer
Bird, Kai
Sherwin, Martin J.
Paperback
Graph Paper Notebook 1/4 inch squares: Graph Paper Composition Book For Children and Women 8 x 10 inch, 122 Pages
Warren, Leann S.
Paperback
AP Physics 1 Premium, 2026: Prep Book with 4 Practice Tests + Comprehensive Review + Online Practice
Rideout, Kenneth, M. S.
Wolf, Jonathan, M. a. Ed M.
Paperback
The Montauk Project - Experiments in Time: Silver Anniversary Edition
Moon, Peter
Nichols, Preston B.
Paperback
Zinn and the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance, 7th Edition: The World's Best-Selling Guide to Mountain Bike Repair
Zinn, Lennard
Paperback
The Black Book of Manifestation: Hidden Secrets & Forbidden Techniques to Shape Your Reality
Sharma, Sagar
Paperback
The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels Between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism
Capra, Fritjof
Paperback
Quantum Physics and Higher Consciousness: Unlocking the Mysteries of Reality and Awakening Your Inner Power
Silva, Mari
Hardcover
Introduction to Live Sound Reinforcement: The Science, the Art, and the Practice
Boyce, Teddy
Paperback
Why Nobody Understands Quantum Physics: The Story of the Science That Shapes Our World
Verstraete, Frank
Broeckaert, Céline
Hardcover
Ways of Being: Animals, Plants, Machines: The Search for a Planetary Intelligence
Bridle, James
Paperback
From Shiva to Schrödinger: Unravelling Cosmic Secrets with Trika Shaivism & Quantum Insights
Majumdar, Mrittunjoy Guha
Paperback
Quantum Mechanics Done Right: The Shortest Path from Novice to Researcher
Freericks, James K.
Hardcover
Smithsonian Atlas of Space: A Map to the Universe from the Big Bang to the Future
Launius, Roger D.
Hardcover
Zinn & the Art of Road Bike Maintenance, 6th Edition: The World's Best-Selling Bicycle Repair and Maintenance Guide
Zinn, Lennard
Paperback
The Montauk Project - Experiments in Time: Silver Anniversary Edition
Nichols, Preston B.
Moon, Peter
Hardcover
My Big TOE Awakening Discovery Inner Workings: The Complete My Big TOE Trilogy Unifying Philosophy, Physics, and Metaphysics
Campbell, Thomas
Paperback
The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory
Greene, Brian
Paperback
Rocket Dreams: Musk, Bezos, and the Inside Story of the New, Trillion-Dollar Space Race
Davenport, Christian
Hardcover
Do Your Ears Pop in Space? and 500 Other Surprising Questions about Space Travel
Mullane, R. Mike
Paperback
Six Not-So-Easy Pieces: Einstein's Relativity, Symmetry, and Space-Time
Feynman, Richard P.
Leighton, Robert B.
Sands, Matthew
Paperback
A Brief Welcome to the Universe: A Pocket-Sized Tour
Strauss, Michael A.
Tyson, Neil Degrasse
Gott, J. Richard
Paperback
Welcome to the Universe: An Astrophysical Tour
Gott, J. Richard
Tyson, Neil Degrasse
Strauss, Michael A.
Hardcover
The Fabric of Reality: The Science of Parallel Universes--And Its Implications
Deutsch, David
Paperback
The Theoretical Minimum: What You Need to Know to Start Doing Physics
Hrabovsky, George
Susskind, Leonard
Paperback
Cosmos and Transcendence: Breaking Through the Barrier of Scientistic Belief
Smith, Wolfgang
Paperback
Time Travel in Einstein's Universe: The Physical Possibilities of Travel Through Time
Gott, J. Richard
Paperback
The Autobiography of Nikola Tesla and Other Works (Deluxe Leatherbound Edition)
Tesla, Nikola
Martin, Thomas Commerford
Hardcover
Signals from the Subatomic World: How to Build a Proton Precession Magnetometer
Hollos, Richard
Hollos, Stefan
Paperback
Fundamentals of Astrodynamics: Second Edition
Mueller, Donald D.
White, Jerry E.
Bate, Roger R.
Paperback
There Are Places in the World Where Rules Are Less Important Than Kindness: And Other Thoughts on Physics, Philosophy and the World
Rovelli, Carlo
Paperback
Let's Review Regents: Physical Science- Physics, Sixth Edition (Barron's NY Regents)
Lazar, Miriam A., M. S.
Tarendash, Albert, M. S.
Paperback
Regents Exams and Answers Physical Science Physics Sixth Edition (Barron's New York Regents)
Lazar, Miriam, M. S. Ed
Paperback
Alchemy of Nine Dimensions: Activating the Full Spectrum of Consciousness
Clow, Barbara Hand
Paperback
Unseen Universe: Space as You've Never Seen It Before from the James Webb Space Telescope
Harper, Caroline
Hardcover
The One Thing You Need to Know: The Simple Way to Understand the Most Important Ideas in Science
Chown, Marcus
Paperback
AP Physics C Premium, Eighth Edition: 4 Practice Tests + Comprehensive Review + Online Practice (2026)
Pelcovits, Robert A., PH. D.
Farkas, Joshua, M. D.
Paperback
Cosmic Queries: Startalk's Guide to Who We Are, How We Got Here, and Where We're Going
Tyson, Neil DeGrasse
Hardcover
The Sound Atlas: A Guide to Strange Sounds Across Landscapes and Imagination
Yuen, Isaac
Vieser, Michaela
Hardcover
Princeton Review AP Physics C Premium Prep, 19th Edition: 4 Practice Tests + Digital Practice Online + Content Review
The Princeton Review
Paperback
Collisions: A Physicist's Journey from Hiroshima to the Death of the Dinosaurs
Nevala-Lee, Alec
Hardcover
Sciencia: Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Astronomy for All
Betts, Moff
Tweed, Matt
Watkins, Matthew
Hardcover
The Universe Story: From the Primordial Flaring Forth to the Ecozoic Era--A Celebration of the Unfol
Swimme, Brian
Paperback
Analytic Idealism in a Nutshell: A Straightforward Summary of the 21st Century's Only Plausible Metaphysics
Kastrup, Bernardo
Paperback
Relativity: The Special and the General Theory - 100th Anniversary Edition
Einstein, Albert
Paperback
Scale: The Universal Laws of Life, Growth, and Death in Organisms, Cities, and Companies
West, Geoffrey
Paperback