Electricity Grid

South Korea is making perhaps the biggest moves towards creating a vast "smart" electricity grid with a test grid of homes equipped with new meters and applications that communicate with each other and the grid.

By the numbers, solar energy comes with a hefty price tag in comparison to other sources. But energy experts claim that the overall value to society offsets the initial high production cost.

Reports to Congress have suggested a terrorist attack on a minor substation could knock out the whole grid. An infrastructure expert says, "That's a bunch of hooey."

The "smart" grid powered by renewable energy sources is likely to be fundamentally different from the current electricity system in more ways than one. Some say it won't be as large-scale as it is now. That's not what utility companies want to hear.