Happy Earth Day!

We thought that this would be a good opportunity to share a special project we’ve been working on over the last year: Smart Power Illinois, a digital campaign to educate consumers about the smart grid rollout in Illinois.

What is the smart grid, you might ask? Some states, including our home state of Illinois, are upgrading their electrical infrastructure to  bring the grid “online,” so-to-speak, allowing electrical providers to manage the grid digitally, and giving consumers access to their own energy use data in real time. The smart grid encourages energy efficiency, making it easier to incorporate renewable energy sources, decreasing power outages and helping fix them faster, and allowing all of us keep better track of the energy we consume so that we don’t use so much of it.

Smart Power Illinois is funded by the Illinois Science and Energy Innovation Foundation (ISEIF), which is tasked with empowering consumers to better understand and adopt smart grid technologies and related programs; creating positive changes in consumer behavior related to patterns of energy use; and transforming cultural norms regarding the relationship between the consumer, the utility, and energy consumption. 

Energy on its own isn’t always fun to talk about, but it plays a critical role in the struggle to get climate change under control. Taking this challenge on has been the focus of this campaign. Since November, we’ve launched a weekly blog and newsletter, a Telly Award-winning video (see below), and Smart Power Illinois Facebook and Twitter channels.

We’re really enjoying the opportunity to bring our impact production and storytelling expertise to a different kind of project — finding a story in something that we often take for granted in our daily lives. 

Check out Smart Power Illinois to learn more about the importance of the smart grid. Sign up for our newsletter, and don’t forget to like/follow/subscribe to us on Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube.