Over a hundred years ago, when Thomas Edison was inventing up a storm, he had a plan for delivering electricity to the nation. The design did not include massive power grids, landscape-altering hydroelectric dams or controversial nuclear plants. Power generation was to be localized for local use.

He built America’s first power plant in New York City in 1882, the famous Pearl Street Power Station, and what happened after that is a tale of romance between Americans and their power.

Some might object to the use of the word “romance” here, but how else would you describe it? A romance means you are rendered incapable of taking a long hard look at the object of your desire. You will hear nothing that proposes it’s not perfectly wonderful in every way. And most of all, you will tolerate no suggestion that it be taken away.

So I say, let the romance continue. Let’s just tinker a bit with the trappings.

History informs us that there was a skirmish of sorts over Edison’s design of DC – that would be direct current – and Nikola Tesla’s design of AC, or alternating current. The AC/DC question was actually resolved by George Westinghouse, and not because he had an opinion on it. No, he had a business proposition.

History colludes here, giving us the impression that Tesla’a AC was a superior design to Edison’s DC, an analysis frequently repeated throughout American education. But the reason AC was adopted was that Edison’s DC couldn’t travel. The farther from the power station the electrical current got, the more the voltage dropped. Yet Tesla’s AC could be “transformed” or stepped up, and could travel long distances before it arrived and then stepped down for various uses.

While we are somewhat mesmerized by the question of AC or DC, the real issue was the power distribution network. George Westinghouse and his Westinghouse Electric built the first wide area network to deliver electricity, after he had procured Tesla’s patents. Amazingly enough, it remains with us today in tens of thousands of miles of electricity criss-crossing all over the nation.

And here is where the misperception persists.

The misperception is that Edison’s idea of power was a de facto inferior design. But Thomas Edison thought that moving power all over the place was a big waste of time and energy – literally and figuratively. His idea was to put power stations where people needed them. Big ones in concentrated areas. Small ones for small needs.

But history told this idea can’t take advantage of the economies of scale. It was just too darn expensive to build power plants. But technology has moved forward, and how we produce power has changed. And while our massive national power grid has been aging, our demand for electricity has surpassed anything envisioned.

So while we’re wondering what happened in Queens and asking why it took so long to get the power back on in St. Louis, let’s look at the facts: We are a nation covered in a spider’s web of massive power lines carrying electricity everywhere and anywhere.

Let’s totally re-think our power system.

Let’s invent small power technology. Let’s do more locally, whether local means our houses, neighborhoods, towns or cities. Let’s opt for what the DOE calls “green pricing,” which lets customers pay a few cents more per kilowatt-hour for clean power generated from such nearby sources of wind, solar, biomass and the no doubt accurately named “landfill gas.”

Let’s get back to a better overall design, something closer to what our most famous American inventor envisioned, before we start pouring billions and billions of dollars into our antiquated power grid.

I'm Moira Gunn. This is Five Minutes.