ATLANTA — GE has launched itsyoursmartgrid.com, an interactive Website designed to educate consumers about the benefits of a smart grid. As the company notes, the smart grid integrates information technologies with the current electrical infrastructure to provide a smarter, more efficient, and more reliable grid.

According to GE, the Website presents an end-to-end view of the smart grid in everyday language and explains its benefits — to improve efficiency, to optimize the integration of clean energy resources and electric vehicles, and to enable consumers to manage energy usage and save money. It also outlines what will be different in the ways the smart grid will enable consumers to receive, use, and pay for electricity. Educational resources on the site range from videos to a regularly updated blog.

“Quite frankly, most people don’t know very much about the traditional power grid, so talking about the smart grid adds a layer of complexity,” said Bob Gilligan, vice president, transmission and distribution at GE Energy. “But there’s a big difference and a big need to better understand the benefits of a smart grid. Unlike the grid of the past 100 years, the smart grid gives consumers an active role in choosing how they use and pay for electricity. It helps us integrate more clean energy. It helps us to become more efficient and productive as a society, and it will ultimately improve our competitiveness and energy independence. So we created itsyoursmartgrid.com to help consumers understand these far-reaching benefits.”

For more information, visit www.itsyoursmartgrid.com.

Publication date: 10/05/2009