The Smart Grid: Power for the 21st century

Summary form only given. The electric grid has been described by the U.S. National Academy of Engineering as the greatest engineering achievement of the 20th century. Although the grid has benefited from many technological improvements, the structure of the world's electrical system has not changed much since the era of Thomas Edison: it is characterized by the one-way flow of electricity from carbon-producing centralized power generation plants to users who have little awareness of how much energy they consume and how they can be more efficient. The grid in most developed countries is aging and will require significant investment in the coming decades to replace outdated generation, transmission and distribution devices and systems in order to operate more efficiently, reliably and cleanly.