Current Group, a Germantown-based technology firm, has taken over an ordinary looking house in Bethesda and turned it into a laboratory for smart-grid technology, the system the company believes will bring the nation’s electricity grids into the digital age.
In the front yard stands a utility pole hooked up to a special transformer that connects the power lines to high-speed Internet. Hundreds of sensors attached to the lines monitor how power flows through the home. That information is then sent back to the utility company.
The process lets a utility more efficiently manage the distribution of electricity by allowing two-way communication between consumers and energy suppliers via the broadband network on the power lines. Based on data they receive from hundreds of homes, utilities can monitor usage and adjust output and pricing in response to demand. Consumers can be rewarded with reduced rates by cutting back on consumption during peak periods. And computerized substations can talk to each other so overloaded circuits hand off electricity to those that have not fully loaded, helping to prevent blackouts.
Some utility companies have launched initiatives to give consumers data about their energy consumption habits in an effort to lower energy bills. Smart-grid technology takes such programs further by automating electricity distribution, which would make grids more reliable and efficient.
By partnering with utilities, the company hopes to tap into $4.5 billion in stimulus grants intended to encourage smart-grid development. When he announced the funding, President Obama pointed to a project in Boulder, Colo. , as an example of a successful smart-grid experiment. Current is one of the companies working on the project.
Current’s chief executive Tom Casey believes the technology will help utility companies better distribute electricity produced by renewable resources, such as solar panels or wind farms. " A smart grid’s system can be paired up with the renewable resources so that when the renewable source is varying, the overall load can be varied as well, " Casey told the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. " This will reduce or eliminate the need for backup coal or gas-based power generation plants. \
What’s the passage mainly about（）
A. Computers and Internet bring utilities into digital age
B. A new technology is introduced into the nation’s electricity grids
C.The U. S. government will work with a private electricity company
D. Smart-grid technology will take the place of coal or gas based power plant
参考答案：B
解析：
主旨大意题。文章第一段引入了“智能电网”这一概念，第二段讲述了该技术的实现方式，第三、四段讲智能电网的好处，第五段讲智能电网获得了政府支持，第六段讲智能电网对发展可再生能源的前景。由此可知，这篇文章主要在介绍这种新技术，所以B为正确答案。A项错在原文说的是电网技术使国家电网系统进入数字时代，故排除；C项在文中提到过，但无论从所占篇幅和重要程度来看，都不是文章的主要内容，故排除；第六段最后一句虽然提到智能电网技术“会减少甚至彻底消除对依赖煤炭或是天然气的发电厂的需求”，但这只是文中人物对该技术的前景展望，不是全文主旨，故排除D。