Navigating the "Smart Grid" for Dummies

If you know how the power grid works in most countries and areas inside of our country, you know that we rely on a very archaic system that has remained largely unchanged from the power grid envisioned by Nikola Tesla over 100 years ago, but the emergence of faster data transfer (ie: the internet) has led to some exciting new possibilities in saving energy intelligently.  So what does this new "smart" system do?

"A smart grid delivers electricity from suppliers to consumers using two-way digital technology to control appliances at consumers' homes to save energy, reduce cost and increase reliability and transparency. It overlays the electricity distribution grid with an information and net metering system.
Such a modernized electricity network is being promoted by many governments as a way of addressing energy independence, global warming and emergency resilience issues. Smart meters may be part of a smart grid, but alone do not constitute a smart grid.
A smart grid includes an intelligent monitoring system that keeps track of all electricity flowing in the system. It also incorporates the use of superconductive transmission lines for less power loss, as well as the capability of integrating renewable electricity such as solar and wind. When power is least expensive the user can allow the smart grid to turn on selected home appliances such as washing machines or factory processes that can run at arbitrary hours. At peak times it could turn off selected appliances to reduce demand." - Wikipedia

If you know anything about "green" or "alternative" engergy, you probably know that there's just not enough of it to supply our current (and growing) energy needs.  Sure, there are a few places in the world where wind or solar or geothermal energy can feed the area's energy needs, but by and large, this is not true, especially as China's energy use per capita nearly doubled between 1990 and 2005, and although I have yet to find data to back this up, I am guessing it is continuing to rise, and likely at a faster rate.

This being said, I don't think that we will cut our dependence on fossil fuels anytime soon, but the use of efficient energy use and delivery systems can be part of the road that gets us closer to that goal.