Beyond the Light Switch on WXXI-TV

Pictured: Host David Biello, energy and environment editor at Scientific American

Credit: www.beyondthelightswitch.com

Join WXXI on an enlightening and comprehensive journey into the inner workings of the electrical power infrastructure that exists today.

Comprehensive and timely, Beyond the Light Switch, a two-part series airing Wednesday, September 28 and Thursday, September 29 at 8 p.m. on WXXI-TV/HD (DT21.1/cable 1011 and 11), adds balanced perspective to a national energy debate. By 2050 America must completely transform its entire electrical infrastructure, a challenge equal to the mobilization efforts for World War II.

To do this, we must rebuild most of our existing electric power plant infrastructure, cut carbon dioxide emissions by 80%, and completely update our power grid – while simultaneously accommodating an expected thirty percent increase in demand. Our modern lives depend upon electricity. But what is the answer?  Renewables?  Coal?  Natural gas?  Nuclear?  A super grid? It's a complicated and confusing issue for almost everyone.

Hosted by Scientific American Magazine's David Biello, and guided by an independent advisory panel, Beyond the Light Switch lays out the energy facts and conundrums facing all of us.

Shot on location throughout the U.S., and featuring interviews with government leaders, industry experts, researchers, innovators, environmentalists, utilities, journalists, and authors, Beyond the Light Switch thoughtfully explores the trade-offs of carbon capture and storage, hydraulic fracturing for natural gas, a nuclear renaissance, the costs of solar power, the sprawl of wind power and the feasibility of a super grid.