"Everything. Depends. On. Electricity."

I like what I hear from President Obama about the need to upgrade and expand our national electric transmission grid, and make it “smarter.”

And you should, too.

Because – ready or not – dramatic change is coming to America. And it starts with our electric grid.

In the USA, there are over 500,000 miles of high voltage transmission lines carrying generated electricity from power plants to substations where local distribution companies take over and deliver the electricity to customers. President Obama wants to add 3,000 miles of new lines, mostly to carry power from renewable energy sources in rural areas to urban areas where it is most needed.

This is a start. Three thousand miles of new lines sounds like a drop in the bucket to me. Nevertheless, we should join President Obama in supporting efforts to bring those lines to reality.

Why? Well, Peggy Noonan hit the nail on the head when she wrote in her recent book, Patriotic Grace:

“Every thing in America runs on electricity. Communications – the phone, the TV, the radio, the Internet. The lights, the heat, the ATM, the bank, the pump, the refrigerator. The machines in the operating room, the lights on the runway. As I type I listen to music that is plugged in, on a machine that is plugged in, under lights that are plugged in. I receive word from people I care about through two machines that are, at the moment, plugged in and being recharged.

“If something bad happens we will get information, instructions, inspiration, and help from things that are plugged in. And we will be largely without information, instruction, data, assistance, and inspiration if the grid goes down.

“Everything. Depends. On. Electricity.”

Peggy Noonan gets it. Barack Obama gets it. He put about $11 billion in the current stimulus bill dedicated to the national electric grid. Now it is time for the rest of us to get on board.

Some electricity utilities get it, they understand increased demand for their product will not abate, but they are afraid of the risk involved. After all, we are talking about a lot of financial unknowns here. I understand their trepidation and their fear of the risk involved. But we have no choice. Change is not just on the way, it’s here!

Consider this one fact: Google, Inc., the Internet’s most widely accepted search engine, is investing a minimum of $10 million in the development of the Plug In Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV). That’s $10 million from a company that is only 11 years old, by the way. Ya’ think they know something?

Well, Google certainly knows something about change, and Google sees significant change in the air for those who use electricity in multiple ways. Imagine the impact on the grid if consumers switch en mass to PHEVs. If 10 million cars are plugged in all night, what impact will it have on the national grid?

And I have not even mentioned the impact of nanotechnology on electricity generation, transmission and distribution. Or its impact on the electronic products we use.

I don’t know about you, but I hope the utilities start using some of those stimulus funds to string wire…and right now.

But don’t take just my word for it. You’ve heard T. Boone Pickens say, “We are in a deep hole…we don’t have a 21^st century grid in the United States.” David Ratcliffe, CEO of Southern Company, says up to $3 trillion needs to be invested in energy by 2030” and I’m sure he includes the national electric grid in that sum.

As you listen to the debate this week and next, think of all the many ways the funds may be used to help us stabilize the economy, perhaps even grow it a bit, but also keep in mind that America desperately needs the dedicated best effort of all our resources to upgrade and expand one essential component in our “national infrastructure” – the national electric grid.