This essay is not about political power, although inevitably it dovetails into such. This is about another meaning of power.

From Webster's New 20th Century Dictionary Unabridged, Second Edition:

power, n. [old French pooir, from an old infinitive podia, from LL. n potter, to be able, used for posse, to able, from potis, able and esse, to be]
...5. physical force or energy; as in electric power.