According to an article in The Washington Post, many local utility companies are taking the initiative to improve energy consumption through smart-grid technology. The Maryland technology firm, Current Group, is on the forefront of this breakthrough.

Current Group aims to improve the communication between consumers and energy suppliers using a broadband network. Current’s Senior Vice President, Jay Birnhaum explains that the old grid system is inefficient and does not allow consumers a chance to be rewarded for cutting back on their energy usage: “Utility companies are deaf, dumb and blind to the problems on hundreds of thousands of lines in local distribution areas. These are extremely old grids, and the technicians don’t know how to measure what is going on.”

How the new smart-grid works is pretty fast and simple: “In the front yard stands a utility pole hooked up to a special transformer that connects the power lines to high-speed Internet. Hundreds of sensors attached to the lines monitor how power flows through the home. That information is then sent back to the utility company.” Also, since the electricity distribution will be automated, this new method would possibly make the grids more reliable and efficient.

Current Group hopes that by partnering with the utility companies and offering effective results for energy consumption, they would be able to receive funding from the government’s recent stimulus.

Current’s chief executive, Tom Casey, explains that this smart-grid technology would be beneficial for the government’s initiative to rely more upon renewable resources as well (such as solar panels and wind farms): “A smart grid’s system… can be paired up with renewable resources so that when the renewable source is varying, the overall load can be varied as well. This will reduce or eliminate the need for backup coal or gas-based power generation plants.

To read more about Current Group’s smart-grid technology, please visit the following article: Engineering a Smart Grid For Energy’s Future by Kim Hart of The Washington Post.