On Saturday, March 27, 2010, an estimated one billion people from more than 120 countries on seven continents took part in the largest Earth Hour event yet. Starting in New Zealand and following the sun around the world to reach Hawaii 24 hours later, people turned off their lights for 60 minutes at 8:30 p.m. local time. This was largely a symbolic event to raise awareness of our impact on the environment and the actions we all can take to reduce carbon footprint, but what impact does turning your lights off really have, and what is being done to improve this area?

Reaching over and turning your lights off while you read this blog will do little to help the environment. That is because utilities have to continuously generate enough power to run your lights just in case you turn them on – after all, you don’t want to cause a brown-out in your city just so you can light up your room. Granted, if everyone continually uses less power, overall demand levels may fall to levels where less generation is needed – but a limiting factor is that most utility companies do not have a means in place to know what you’re using right now. Most of us have older, analog meters at home that are read once a month, so our utilities do not know how much we use each day or throughout the day. As a result, they create and must rely on usage profiles to estimate how much power you’re going to use.

That’s changing under Smart Grid. Utilities across the world are replacing those meters with the digital sort that can communicate back and forth to the utility, and monitor your usage in near real-time. That way, if you turn your dishwasher on now, the utility will soon see that you’re using more power – and they can adjust generation accordingly. More importantly, they’ll have greater insight into usage levels within our homes at frequent intervals (approximately 15 minutes) which they’ll be able to use to refine their models and use analytics to predict usage patterns – which means they can plan generation more efficiently. That way, if you start unplugging your cell phone charger and turning off your computer when you’re not using it, the utilities will have a stronger ability to see those changes and lower generation – ultimately helping to reduce our use of fossil fuels.

Smart Grid is also going to change the way you manage your own power usage. Many regulatory bodies are requiring utilities to make usage data available to third-party companies. Google has already begun integrating data from several utilities into their iGoogle portal, allowing you to see your usage in near real-time on the web. Utilities such as TXU offer access to energy usage on the web and your cell phone so that you can view usage and even adjust the temperature in your house. Other vendors are creating home gateways so that you can network your appliances and control them remotely. Schlage allows you to remotely lock and unlock your doors with their Schlage LiNK product. Soon enough, when you venture off on a long trip to Grandma’s house, you won’t have to drive back to see if the oven is off – you’ll grab your Droid and check from the car.

Commercial carriers like Verizon are investing heavily in technologies that support Smart Grid, and we are working with utility companies and vendors to develop the secure, two-way communication networks and integrate devices into applications that allow consumers and businesses to make smarter choices about their energy usage. Placing this power into the hands of consumers allows us all to make a direct difference for the environment.

As we celebrate Earth Day on April 22 and we think about the ways we can impact the environment, keep in mind that Verizon is working with utility companies around the world to help us all reduce our carbon footprint.