Chapter | 1 Smart Grid Is a Lot More than Just "Technology" 5 This chapter offers a brief overview of the changes we can expect to see in the power industry over the next decade or two. The section "An Inevitable Evolu- tion" provides a glimpse at the current state of the grid followed by the section "Envisioning the Smart Grid: What Do We Want From It?" laying out a vision of what a smart grid should include. The section "Path to the Smart Grid" describes some of the key efforts that are enabling the change and discusses efforts going forward. The "Conclusion" provides a final view of the expected changes. AN INEVITABLE EVOLUTION The electricity industry has done a superb job of building, operating, and main- taining a complex infrastructure that transports trillions of kWh of electricity across thousands of miles at the speed of light. Adequate and reliable electricity has been essential to creating economic prosperity. Worldwide, it has made us healthier, safer, and more comfortable by supporting innovations like indoor lighting and refrigeration [1]. The National Academy of Engineering named electrification of the United States the greatest twentieth-century engineering achievement--above the airplane, the internet, the computer, and television [2]. The same is true across the globe where economies and societies have prospered