A decade ago most of us couldn't be bothered with understanding where our oil comes from or the repercussions of its consumption, but world events changed all that. Quickly rising energy prices, power shortages and a potential cap on carbon emissions could soon bring a similar scrutiny to electricity.

The new book Perfect Power takes us inside the world on the other side of the light switch to show how electricity arrives at the outlet, and why we need to make it cleaner, more reliable, and more efficient.

The book goes all the way back to the days of Thomas Edison to show how the power grid was designed for a simpler time, and because of regulatory obstacles and resistance to change by its operators, it has been allowed to rot from the inside out. Smart grid technology, which employs internet and computing technology to monitor and optimize power delivery and use, is seen as the medicine necessary to heal our ailing grid.

Funding for the smart grid was one of the centerpieces to the recent stimulus package, with the expectation that tens of billions will be sent on new transmission lines and system-wide upgrades.

But in Perfect Power, Robert Galvin (former CEO of Motorola) and Kurt Yeager (former president and CEO of the Electric Power Institute), and author Jay Stuller argue that a smart grid isn't enough to provide the reliability that today's digital economy requires.

The authors make the case that the grid should be transformed into islands of microgrids that can produce their own power and can be isolated from the grid to minimize risk of power failures. Today's occasional power failures can cost a large energy consumer, such as a college or research lab, hundreds of thousands of dollars, which no longer should be tolerated.

According to the authors, "In the same way that the Internet changed the way that people exchange information, the technology exists to create a power system that provides the same reliability, efficiency, precision and interconnectivity..."

Building owners, such as corporations, office parks, and college campuses, can and should become microgrids because they can greatly reduce their carbon footprint while all but eliminating downtime by integrating renewable energy into their own distributed power production. Because smart microgrids can react to real-time energy pricing, they can cut back on energy consumption from their utility during peak times and shave off thousands or perhaps even millions per year in energy costs.

Perfect Power also successfully makes the business case for private entities and utilities to shift to smart microgrids. The book dedicates a chapter to Siegel Hall at the Illinois Institute of Technology as the prototype for a smart microgrid. Robert Galvin's Galvin Electricity Initiative provided funding for the in-progress initiative.

Based on their years of industry experience, the authors recognize that the shift won't be easy and will face resistance from those who control the knobs that manage our power. Local and regional regulations and tax laws that have perpetuated utility monopolies have to be removed.

This will require a shift to put customers, and not utilities, as the focal points of regulators. Consumers will no longer passively accept what shows up on their monthly bill or accept the occasional power failures, but will actively engage in monitor the energy consumption in offices and homes, according to the authors. This kind of change would require a huge shift in consumer and political culture, which would likely take at least a decade even with the power industry's backing.

Achieving perfection in any enterprise that involves humans may be unreachable, but Perfect Power builds a strong case for trying. The benefits of reduced greenhouse gas emissions, cheaper power, and greater reliability are hard to argue against.

Perfect Power is available in bookstores and online.