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The economic stimulus package as crafted by the House of Representatives includes $11 billion to modernize America鈥檚 electric grid.

About $10 billion of that money would go for upgrading the transmission system so that it鈥檚 more reliable, efficient, and redundant. The program, part of the , would also make the grid more interconnected so that traditional and renewable power plants in, say, the Midwest could send their surplus electricity to the East Coast.

But the package also reserves $1 billion for 鈥渟mart grid鈥� and 鈥渟mart metering鈥� pilot projects, which would begin to energize, even revolutionize, what some call the world's largest machine.

If the Obama administration were to expand the 鈥渟mart grid鈥� effort to a five-year $50 billion program, the result could be curbed growth in energy demand, a curtailed need for new power plants, and a reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions. That would also create about 238,000 new jobs, according to a recent study by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation.

At least a dozen prestimulus pilot projects are already up and running, allowing homeowners like Dennis Arfmann to monitor their electricity use and carbon dioxide 鈥渇ootprint.鈥�

鈥淓veryone has different drivers,鈥� says Mr. Arfmann, a lawyer in Boulder, Colo., who has had solar panels installed on his roof and joined Xcel Energy's pilot program, Smart Grid City. 鈥淔or me it鈥檚 CO2 reduction and climate change. But for someone else in Houston or California, it may be peak pricing and saving money,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hat's why these portals [monitors] are so critical. They help you see what's happening.鈥�

So far, Arfmann has cut the energy use of his 4,500-square-foot home by 40 percent by, among other things, hanging up laundry rather than using the dryer.

In the future, a smart-grid system would let homeowners decide whether to pay a hefty premium to run their 鈥渟mart鈥� washers or air conditioners during peak power periods or allow their power companies to shut off those appliances automatically.