Can a 'Smart Grid' Turn Us on to Energy Efficiency?

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From CNN -- While renewable energy seems to be the star child of the green power movement, energy efficiency can provide massive energy savings and reduce carbon emissions significantly. Improving the efficiency of the national electricity grid by merely 5 percent would be the equivalent of eliminating the fuel use and carbon emissions of 53 million cars. The key to increasing efficiency is through smart grids, which use digital technology to eliminate waste and improve reliability.

“ Advocates of a "smart grid" also say that it would open up new markets for large and small scale alternative energy producers by decentralizing generation. "It would give consumers the potential to have a much more complex relationship with their energy supplier," says John Loughhead, Executive Director of the United Kingdom Energy Research Center.  ”