Smart Grid, Smart Broadband, Smart Infrastructure

(April 8) With a bit of imagination and coordination among multiple federal programs and agencies, the economic stimulus funding in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 could be used far more efficiently to achieve a diverse set of closely related goals. One section of the act provides billions of federal dollars to fund a "smart grid" for electricity that connects a far more flexible and efficient grid for long-distance transmission to regional feeder lines and local hubs, and then to that "last mile" to residences and businesses. A different part of the act provides billions in funding to upgrade broadband networks for unserved and underserved areas around the country. The broadband network has the same essential structure as the electricity network—long-distance transmission or the "Internet backbone," the feeder lines to local hubs or the "middle mile," and the "last mile" to fixed and wireless users. Both the smart-grid and broadband efforts involve substantial planning, spending on new wires, and the creation of major new digital infrastructure to connect homes in vastly expanded networks of information exchange. So here's a simple and powerful idea—construction of the electricity grid and the broadband network should go hand in hand. And here is an even more powerful idea—we should combine these efforts with other parts of the Recovery Act, such as health care information technology, education reform, weatherization initiatives, and future policy initiatives to create a nationwide smart infrastructure.