Lessons from the Big Red Machine
TRAVEL BACK WITH ME to the year 1975. I’m 5 years old, watching the TV intently with my grandpa in his southern Ohio living room. One side of the room is wallpapered, and the other is covered with faux wood paneling. The carpet is mustard yellow. As always, my grandmother is cooking or baking in the kitchen, and it smells unbelievable. The TV set gets three channels, but only one of them matters. Our beloved Cincinnati Reds are in the World Series.
We called them the Big Red Machine, because that’s how they operated. They were smooth, precise and efficient—a team in perfect balance. I loved watching Pete Rose, Joe Morgan and George Foster, and those early experiences with my grandpa and my dad sparked a lifelong love of the sport. To this day, I think of springtime as baseball season.
It wasn’t until years later that I connected some dots between the 1975 World Series and my chosen career in the energy industry. A good team is well-balanced. So is the electric grid that delivers power to our homes and businesses. Maintaining that balance is no easy task. The grid has been called the world’s most complex machine due to its enormous size and the never-ending fluctuations of supply and demand.
This is why it’s so important to have honest conversations about what balance looks like for our industry’s “big machine.” Energy policy must balance reliability, costs and environmental concerns while meeting growing demand. Kentucky’s electric cooperatives are your advocates in this conversation, and we keep you informed and engaged through Kentucky Living.
Looking through the colorful photos in this month’s edition, it feels like we’ve finally turned the corner on winter. There will still be some cold days, but spring is in the air, and I couldn’t be more excited to see what this new season holds.
Pitchers and catchers reported for spring training last month—and opening day for Major League Baseball is just around the corner. Just like the Reds are trained up and ready, electric cooperatives are on the field day in and day out, ready to meet any challenge coming our way.
