The Smart Grid At Any Cost?

How much should the U.S. government invest in smart grid technology?

The government really doesn’t have unlimited resources, despite talk of a stimulus package that could reach $1 trillion. So, should technologies like the smart grid be built regardless of cost?

Adam Stein, emissions reduction project manager and co-founder of the voluntary carbon offset provider TerraPass, posted the following response under the heading “The Wrong Question” to a blog on Grist.org, an environmental news and commentary site:

"Things that are worth funding are worth funding, regardless of funding source. The question is: should we build a smart grid given a cost of X? Not: should we build a smart grid provided we can find a source of thematically linked revenue?

"A spending program either makes sense or it doesn't, given everything we know about society's level of wealth, competing priorities, expected costs, and expected benefits. If the program doesn't pencil out, it doesn't make sense to do regardless of whether the cash is on hand. And if it does pencil out, then let the appropriation process sort itself out as it normally does. ...

... "It isn't the job of policy advocates to balance the federal budget."