The news is electrifying. On October 27, 2009, President Obama announced that $3.4 billion in federal stimulus funds will be awarded in the form of 100 grants to companies and utilities in 49 states, for the purpose of creating the long-awaited, much-dreamed-of Smart Grid.

The Smart Grid will revolutionize the way we use, obtain, and think about energy. Under the current not-smart grid system of electricity delivery and usage, data about energy use is often collected by meter readers walking from house to house. Power outages occur because utility companies do not have real-time data about peaks of energy use. And consumers have no idea how much energy they are using until their electric bills come in the mail.

Smart grid technology, which exists but needs to be integrated, would mean that smart meters could provide both the homeowner and the utility company with valuable information about the homeowner's energy use. Such data would allow a consumer to decide if and when to run electrical appliances and a utility to know when usage is nearing outage levels.

By turning the nation's electrical grid into an information network, America will be able to draw energy from parts of the country where wind and solar power exist and to feed power from clean energy sources back into the system. Call it a smart give-and-take that will do for our energy system what the transcontinental railroad did for travel--make it faster, more efficient, and easier to control.

According to Erika Lovley of Politico back on March 4, 2009, many Obama campaign contributors--such as Google, Microsoft, and IBM--will be integral service providers helping to move the grid into the 21st century. Lovley also reported that technology companies were meeting with the Obama transition team before the inauguration, and that during those meetings IBM estimated that a $10 billion investment in the Smart Grid could create approximately 477,000 jobs.

A stimulus project that will create jobs, save consumers money, help the environment, and advance technology for a good cause--all at the same time--is certainly something to celebrate. Indeed, as SmartGridNews.com reported on October 9, 2009, the October 8, 2009 SCHOTT Solar Barometer survey showed that 92 percent of Americans believe integrating solar power into the U.S. energy system is an important project. And the feeling is bipartisan: 89 percent of Republicans surveyed, 93 percent of Independents, and 94 percent of Democrats favor new energy technology.

The companies slated to receive grants include Landis+Gyr North America, a century-old company that will help the effort by providing smart meters. According to Max Showalter at jconline.com, the CEO of Landis+Gyr, Richard Mora, called the project "a once-in-a-generation opportunity . . . to make a quantum leap in the technology used in electricity delivery and usage."

And Jerry Collins Jr., president and CEO of Memphis Light, Gas & Water, told the Memphis Business Journal on October 27, 2009 that MLG&W was "ecstatic to receive this grant," adding that "we will be able to see, measure, and control the electric system like never before."

When is the last time America heard the phrase "like never before" used to describe something positive? Of course, as David Talbot states in the MIT Technology Review blog on October 27, 2009, $3.4 billion is a small percentage of the amount needed to make a fully functioning Smart Grid a reality. But it is a start. It is a step toward an America that thinks smart and acts smart. It is--oh my, it really is!--change we can believe in.