Global climate change could prove to be one of the biggest challenges to the U.S. electric power industry since the days of Thomas Edison. To cope with mandatory carbon caps, utilities will have to step up efforts to reduce demand, build or buy more renewable energy capacity, increase the efficiency of their existing fleets, and find ways to capture and sequester massive amounts of CO2 from new and old plants alike. The next 20 years are sure to be exciting, and they will require new skills to identify and manage the considerable risks involved.