A new poll has found that a majority of Americans – 70% – support infrastructure investment in national security. What does that tell us? That we should be making the connection between the smart grid initiative and national security clear to ratepayers and regulators.

After weeks of delay, the U.S. Senate confirmed physicist Ernest Moniz, President Obama's nominee, as head of the Energy Department Thursday in what was an unusual and surprising unanimous vote considering the political climate in Washington, D.C. We share some reactions from energy industry and environmental groups.

The Energy Future Coalition and the state of Maryland have issued the first report from their Utility 2.0 project on what should be considered in the development of utilities of the future. It offers specifics on key issues, from reliability and grid modernization to customer choice and regulatory changes.

Looking for a deeper understanding of the smart grid? Subject matter experts at Modern Grid Solutions offer introductory smart grid courses online for electric utility personnel, utility executives as well as non-utility personnel and executives. Click for course descriptions and registration information.

Managing the massive amounts of data smart grids make possible isn't the biggest hurdle for utilities, according to the results of an Electric Power Research Institute survey. The really big issue is how to wring quantifiable value out of it.

Scotland has been extremely aggressive in its initiatives to develop a thoroughly optimized smart grid and as much renewable energy as possible. Now the country has its own world-class research center that will tackle transmission line loss and other challenging issues.

Europe has been aggressively developing renewable energy resources, but a study by Siemens and a German technical university found that poor choices have been made in siting renewable energy projects. The result? A tremendous waste of money. Read the story for details on what Siemens recommends to remedy the problem.

Industry events and conferences can help you stay on top of industry trends and technologies and make important contacts. Our calendar is loaded with upcoming events, with links for further details. And be sure to jump to page 2, where you can see the conferences Smart Grid News Chief Analyst Jesse Berst will be attending.

The Navy Yard in Philadelphia will house what's described as a groundbreaking demonstration project for the smart grid and net zero energy buildings. Organizers say the GridSTAR Net Zero Energy Demonstration Structure will serve as a valuable hub for workforce training, building performance testing, energy management research and smart microgrid modernization deployments.

Projects at seven colleges and universities around the U.S. will receive awards from the Department of Energy to better prepare the electricity industry workforce of the future in synchrophasor technology. Click for details on this new program and which schools will be involved.

The U.S. had nearly 750,000 clean job openings in the first quarter of 2013, according to a report from Denver-based Ecotech Institute, a college that trains students for solar, wind and renewable energy jobs. The Institute says more than 8,000 of those jobs were in solar. See where else the report found gains.

A preview of a utility smart grid investments and infrastructure spending survey released by Newton-Evans finds that utility spending is up in areas like transmission and distribution automation, but flat or lower in operations and maintenance.

Cyberattacks aren't just nuisances anymore. Attacks against energy companies used to be considered attempts to steal information or trade secrets. Now, those attacks focus on causing serious damage to networks and equipment, news reports say.

It took a while but microgrids have been gaining ground and getting a lot of attention lately. Joule Assets CEO Mike Gordon outlines why microgrids could be the tipping point that takes forward-thinking utilities from a traditional commodity provider role to a more service-oriented one.

The Energy Future Coalition was charged by Governor Martin O’Malley of Maryland, in response to a recommendation from the Governor’s Task Force on Grid Resiliency, with developing a practical method to explore the utility of the future. This document responds to that charge.

The IEEE Power & Energy Society (PES) Scholarship Plus Initiative is helping prepare the next generation of power and energy engineers by awarding scholarships and career experience opportunities. June 30 is the deadline for the next round of scholarship applications.

Several solar companies have joined together to push for better net metering standards for their industry. They're certainly entitled, but for those companies to say U.S. electric utilities have mounted a coordinated attack on renewables leaves us very puzzled. We tell you why.

It looks like the buzz over the UK's plans for a massive smart meter rollout has fizzled a bit with the news that deployment has been delayed by at least a year. Ovum analyst Stuart Ravens offers a critical assessment of what went wrong.

If you want to know where the smart grid action will be over at least the next several years, look toward China, Japan and Korea. They are likely to invest a lot of money in ambitious, large-scale projects, say Navigant Research and Frost & Sullivan.

While residential demand response might be overrated, it is certainly demonstrating its usefulness in many parts of the country. An announcement from regional transmission organization PJM underscores DR's growing value for the industry.