As the government transforms itself into a 21st century model and new technologies such as cloud and mobile continue to emerge, it has become necessary for the electrical grid to also update itself. The Department of Energy put out an interesting comparison between our level of technology and our electrical grid. They wrote that if we brought Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, to the 21st century, he would not recognize the components in modern phones. At the same time, if we were to bring Thomas Edison, who was one of the key architects of the early electrical grid, to the 21st century, the grid would still look completely familiar to him.
Read the full article here: Improving Infrastructure Through Smart Grid Technology
