Winter 2005

Good Morning.   I am extremely pleased to address the graduating engineers at the University of Maryland, one of the finest institutions of higher learning in the world.  You have sought one of the most challenging undergraduate degrees, and you should be proud to have completed this important milestone.   Nicely Done!

As you build your professional career after completing a degree in Engineering, you will greatly benefit from the foundation it has provided by honing your critical thinking and problem solving skills, enhancing your curiosity about the world in which we live and work, and providing a strong platform to pursue higher learning in a technical, financial, or  managerial field.

The United States is facing some powerful and disturbing trends in the area of higher education.   Our economic leadership in the world has been built on our ingenuity, technical abilities, creativity, scientific research, and entrepreneurial spirit that flourishes in our democracy.  However, nations around the world are now producing far more technically trained college graduates in the field of engineering and the sciences.   China graduated 500,000 engineers last year, and India 200,000, compared to 70,000 in the United States.

Globalization of the world has occurred as a result of the international ubiquity of high speed fiber and satellite communications, shrinking the world, as chronicled in Thomas Friedman’s book the World is Flat.  Friedman has documented a major foundational shift that is creating opportunity for companies in India and China to enter these technical fields from their local offices in such a way that the virtual interconnectivity now makes possible.

New video games are being developed in Bangalore, Microsoft is establishing a center in China, and the 64 slice CT scan or MRI you had yesterday was read by a radiologist last evening in Dehli.   This will create even greater challenges for our newly trained engineers and scientists that enter the workplace in the U.S.   What gives me encouragement and hope is the high quality of graduates like yourselves, from a stellar institution, the University of Maryland, that is investing in leading edge technologies while at the same time instilling the values of hard work, commitment, and integrity into its students.   Given these global changes, I strongly recommend you set your goals high, constantly looking for challenging opportunities to invest your talents and abilities in the pursuit of excellence.   In this way, you assure your long term success and make an important contribution to the future success of our Nation.

One of the key industries that will be critical for our economic and societal future is Energy, the same field I have chosen for my career.   The correlation of economic growth with the growth of electricity usage is well-documented.   Our economy literally runs on electricity.   We have made great strides in the past 100 years, improving the efficiency of electricity production, investing in new technology to improve the reliability and efficiency of the electric grid, and developing equipment, appliances, and computers that operate on electricity.

The energy efficiency of air conditioners, heat pumps and motors has also improved significantly in the past 30 years.   However, even with these efficiency improvements and new energy sources, we are experiencing unprecedented increases in the cost of energy that is posing a real threat to economic growth and affordability for businesses and homeowners.

The bad news is that the global demand for oil, gas, coal, and electricity has been increasing, particularly in China and India, whose economies are growing at double digit rates.   Our local energy costs are being driven by these global markets as supply is not keeping up with demand.   The recent hurricanes that hit the Gulf Coast have also impacted the supply of natural gas and refined oil products.  

There is more bad news!   Our domestic electricity production is not keeping up with growing demand, and we are seeing increasing environmental regulations that are resulting in the decommissioning of older generating units that can not be economically remediated to meet these new environmental standards.

There is more bad news - the threat of global warming as a result of the long term rise of greenhouse gasses, mostly carbon dioxide.   Countries are grappling with how to arrest this troubling rise in greenhouse gasses, which will demand that production of electricity from fossil fuels be altered to sequester CO2 or be shifted to other fuel sources that do not produce carbon emissions.

There is more bad news – our nation’s electric grid will need to have major investments to reinforce its capacity to assure continued reliability as the load grows, while facing resistance from local communities.

I wish I could tell you that is all the bad news, but there is more.  Utilities are one of the top three industries with an aging work force, along with healthcare and government.   In the next 10 years, the Baltimore Gas & Electric Company will see nearly 50% of its employees retire, and 65% of our leadership team, all at a time when there will be an increasing demand for new infrastructure to meet growing demand.

However, there is some great news, especially for you as engineers – there will be incredible opportunities to ply your trade in the energy industry, to participate in the development of new, environmentally friendly sources of energy, to develop new technologies to improve energy efficiency, while at the same time making a key contribution to the communities that we serve.

The field of electricity is unique – almost every engineering discipline is needed to make it work.  Obviously, electrical engineering tops the list.

But we need mechanical engineers to design generators

• systems engineers to develop complex systems modeling
• chemical engineers for feedwater chemistry
• computer engineers to design real time computer systems that operate and control the grid, some of the most complex computer applications in the world
• industrial engineering to improve business processes
• environmental engineers to design solutions for waste disposal, air and water quality
• construction  and civil engineers to build power plants and transmission lines
• Nuclear engineers to design and operate nuclear plants
• Even aerodynamic engineers work on the development of new wind turbines

Need I go further?   I have always found the energy business to be so fascinating because of the diverse challenges and variety of technical, financial, and managerial issues that we face.

However, with all of this opportunity to attract you to the industry, there is another dimension that also makes it rewarding to join a company like Constellation Energy and BGE – our special relationship with the community we serve.

Ever since I joined BGE, I have been encouraged to become involved with community service functions.   It begins with our leadership role in contributing to the United Way, not only in financial terms, but I participating on activities that allow us to give back some of the bounty we reap.

I also have become involved in serving on the Board of Directors of various non-profit organizations, such as the Maryland Food Committee, the St. Joseph Medical Center, and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.   Not only has it been personally rewarding, I have learned so much from these experiences.  It has broadened my understanding of the societal problems we face, and has helped to develop leadership, communications, and interpersonal skills.

If you are looking for a way to make a real difference in your career, you would be hard pressed to find another industry that not only challenges your technical problem solving and creative thinking, but also creates such special outlets to genuinely make a positive impact on the community.

So there you have it.   Energy is critical to our future – it needs new talent like you to find new solutions to improve the supply and reliability, while at the same time improving the environmental impacts.   It provides a wonderful opportunity to get involved in the community and to genuinely make a difference.   And it is critical to the long term health of our Nations economy.  I hope you will consider a career in energy.

I thank you for this very special opportunity to address the engineers graduating from the University of Maryland.   I wish you all the best of success in your careers ahead.   In some ways, I envy you because you are just at the beginning of an exciting and fulfilling adventure.   Make the most of it, for yourself, for your family, for your country, and for the generations that will follow you.

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