What would it be like to have a "smart meter" that could tell you when it's cheapest to run the clothes dryer, automatically signal the utility company if your power goes out, help you save money, and reduce your carbon footprint? Soon 160,000 Progress Energy customers in the Carolinas and Florida will find out. The federal government has awarded the utility $200 million for "smart grid" projects, including system upgrades, electric-vehicle charging stations and these meters.

Lisa Jackson, who heads the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, announced the grant during a visit to Raleigh on Oct. 29. The company is matching the award with about $300 million. Duke Energy is receiving a similar grant.

"The 'smart grid' is really a catch phrase for modernizing the electrical-grid system from what is, essentially, 19th-century technology to something that's more 21st Century," explains local alt-energy-expert Ned Doyle. In the current system, power companies like Progress and Duke produce electricity and send it out to customers. It's a one-way, centralized system that uses outdated technology, making it difficult for utilities — or customers — to monitor usage and production, whether evaluating how much energy a solar array is contributing to the system or accurately sensing outages or other problems, Doyle explains.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, slow response times in older mechanical switches are one factor contributing to an increase in blackouts and brownouts.  "If the grid were just 5 percent more efficient, the energy savings would equate to permanently eliminating the fuel and greenhouse gas emissions from 53 million cars," the DOE estimates in The Smart Grid: An Introduction.

A modernized, "smart" grid creates two-way communication between the user and the provider, which should benefit both the utilities and their customers. With a smart meter, both the homeowner and the power company get much more detailed information about electricity usage than provided by traditional meters. Smart meters, for instance, can track when power is consumed and charge lower rates at off-peak hours. They can also directly report real-time information about power loss (no more searching for the power company's phone number when the lights go out). 

According to an analysis by the Electric Power Research Institute, installing these meters and other smart-grid technologies could reduce electricity use nationwide by more than 4 percent by 2030 — a savings of $20.4 billion for businesses and consumers, the EPA reports. That's worth $500 million for North Carolina alone, or $51 in utility savings for every man, woman and child in the state.

Jackson adds that modernizing the electrical grid will create jobs, promote more efficient energy distribution and "set the stage for affordable clean energy across the country."

Bill Johnson, Progress Energy's chairman and president, adds, "This grant program has the potential to expand [the] investments necessary to transform the electric grid to give customers greater control of their energy use, enable utilities to harness the potential of renewable energy and electric vehicles, and improve power quality and service reliability."

Asked what this means for the development of alternative-energy sources such as wind and solar power, Doyle responds by acknowledging the huge, long-overdue investment needed to create a smarter grid. He adds: "This is potentially a pivotal moment for local and decentralized power production and distribution." As more alternative-energy sources are installed — by both the public utilities and the private sector — the overall system will becomes less centralized. A smart grid will be better equipped to monitor and to integrate different sources, and also to distribute the power, wherever it comes from. A smart grid "changes the equation," says Doyle, by letting the power companies make money from power distribution and be less reliant on power production for delivering profits to shareholders, and by making it easier for alternative sources to be integrated into the system.

"In other words, combine the growth of alternative power sources with increased efficiency, and that reduces, if not eliminates, the need for building any more new fossil-fuel-powered or nuclear plants," Doyle says.

The old model for power companies was based on the simple equation of producing power and selling it to customers. That model doesn't take into account the social and environmental impacts of where we get most of our electricity in the United States, Doyle says. Nor does it give the utilities much incentive for being more efficient or encouraging customers to do the same.

"I'm not against the utilities making money," says Doyle, who lives off-grid himself. "I just want to diminish our reliance on coal mined from mountaintop removal and other fossil fuels." And while 160,000 smart meters can only cover a small fraction of Progress Energy's 3.1 million customers in the Carolinas and Florida, "It's a start," says Doyle.

For more information on EPA and the recovery act, visit http://www.epa.gov/recovery/.

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Bloggers, and that includes me, dream of being the next Julie Powell. She won a book and movie deal by chronicling her year-long effort to cook every recipe in Julia Child's seminal book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. The movie based on Powell's blog and Child's life was Julie and Julia, starring Meryl Streep. So I dream, and meanwhile, the Web is full of outdoor blogs and social networks, but here are a few of my favorites, which focus on the Southern Appalachians, allow comments and are updated at least once a week.

Hikin' and bloggin': Sharon McCarthy started blogging as part of a Girl Scouts fundraiser; she keeps it up because "it's fun to keep a record for when I get old." Photo courtesy Sharon McCarthy

http://gosmokies.knoxnews.com/profiles/blog/list

Go Smokies is a social network created for "lovers of the Great Smoky Mountains," and it's hosted by knoxnews.com (the Knoxville News-Sentinel). The blog section is very active and chock full of individual opinions: "Are the bears getting out of hand?" attracted 40 comments (most members say that it's the people who are getting out of hand). On the other hand, a public hearing on the National Park Service got no comments. Public-affairs staff for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park peruse the site to gauge the mood of the locals.

http://www.postcardsfromthesmokies.com

This photo blog, sponsored by the Swain County Chamber of Commerce, offers content produced by Deep Creek Arts, a marketing firm from Whittier. You'll find blog posts about such topics as autumn colors, Fontana Lake and happenings in Bryson City.

http://hikinginthesmokys.blogspot.com

Jeff Doran of Louisville, Ky., has been blogging about the Southern Appalachians since May 2008. He monitors other sites and checks out press releases from parks and forests in the Blue Ridge. His latest postings include information about the potential landslide on the Blue Ridge Parkway and instructions on sealing a tent. You'll also find ads for Smokies-area cabins, and Doran also sells hiking gear and Smoky Mountains-related books through his online, Amazon-affiliate store.

http://tommangan.net/twoheeldrive

Tom Mangan had a great following when he lived and blogged in San Francisco. Now a Winston-Salem resident, he hikes in the Western North Mountains. He's opinionated and fun to read, especially since he brings a fresh view of the Blue Ridge.

"My ulterior motive for starting Two-Heel Drive was that somebody in the outdoors industry would notice the blog, put me on their payroll and essentially pay me to hike and blog." It worked: Mangan now has a full-time job writing Web-based gear guides.

http://olddanwalking.com

Dan DeSetto, an electrical engineer from South Carolina, writes a very personal blog about his trips into the Blue Ridge. "I started my site as an easy way to share my hiking experiences with my parents in Florida and have been blogging since February 2009." His entries are long and detailed with lots of pictures. I don't know why he calls himself "Old Dan," but that's a distinctive URL.

http://smokyscout.blogspot.com

Sharon McCarthy, a hiker and blogger from Charlotte, walked all the trails in the Smokies in a year, starting at age 50. Her blog focuses on her outdoor adventures in the Southern Appalachians.

"I started the blog because I hiked the Smokies as a fundraiser for the Girl Scouts. I wanted to let [the contributors] know what I was doing. I'm keeping it up because I'm still hiking, and it's fun to keep a record for when I get old." McCarthy is working on climbing all the mountains higher than 6,000 feet (the South Beyond challenge), so she's got lots more to blog about.

http://thegreatsmokymountains.org/blog/

This blog from the Great Smoky Mountain Association has short entries on what's happening in the park. The blog includes many videos and outstanding pictures from readers.

http://hikertohiker.com/ThisHikingLife

This is my blog, in which I detail my hiking trips and muse on park and forest issues. Lately I've been preoccupied with my Elk Bugle Corp volunteer work in Cataloochee. But for the coming season, I'll be hiking at lower elevations.

http://carolinaoutdoorsguide.com/YourLand

Chris Nelson, a former writer for The News & Observer (Raleigh), blogs about public lands in North Carolina. His factual blog includes trail and road closings and outdoor happenings all over the state.

"I started this blog in May 2009 as a companion to my Web site, Carolina Outdoors Guide. You can search by park names, and anything I've blogged about it will show up along with Web site pages."

http://nationalparkstraveler.com

This excellent and opinionated blog on National Parks, written by freelancer Kurt Repanshek, is dedicated to everything and anything dealing with America's national parks. Repanshek and his colleagues sift through developing news events and press releases every day. With an emphasis on the facts, the site now has 100,000 readers. The Web site recently posted an interview with Jon Jarvis, the new director of the National Park Service. Says Repanshek, "It's truly a labor of love for my colleagues and me."

[Danny Bernstein, a hike leader and outdoor writer, can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). She blogs at http://www.hikertohiker.com/ThisHikingLife.
"Are the bears getting out of hand?" ask Go Smokies networkers; most members say that it's the people who are getting out of hand.]