The future, as it has been pointed out by numerous others, will not look very much like the present for one important reason: We are running out of energy.

The military has been worrying aloud recently that we may reach peak oil as soon as 2015. Coal is not sustainable; nuclear power has a significant number of problems associated with waste disposal. In short, barring some miraculous advance in energy technology, we are unlikely to have the sort of unfettered access to energy that we enjoy now.

As George Monbiot has so eloquently pointed out, “the battle lines are drawn between expanders and restrainers.” Some of us realize that we must change, and change now. Some of us, to further appropriate Monbiot, are still clutching their copies of Atlas Shrugged and flailing wildly.

And restraint is difficult. It is not only difficult because of the American culture of indulgence, but because we do not have useful information about how many of our activities impact the energy, balance of the world in real ways. Which is more energy-intensive: Using your computer for an hour, using a desk lamp for three, or using a space heater for 15 minutes? You can guess — but you’re not sure.

If you knew the wattage of all three devices, you could calculate the energy usage, but that is exactly the sort of opacity that people are reluctant to deal with.

Enter the smartgrid.

Smartgrids are the first real update to electric grid technology in a very long time, and Norman is the first community in Oklahoma to have its electric meters upgraded to smart meters. Smartgrids allow, among other things, for energy usage to be dynamically and continuously monitored. This means that it is now possible to have real-time, easily accessible information about how much electricity we are using. Without this sort of information, it is difficult to impossible to make smart choices about energy use. It is a victory for the restrainers.

It also is a victory for the electric companies. Dynamic monitoring of electricity also allows for dynamic pricing. This means that energy will be more expensive during the middle of the day — when people use it most.

For people living on a fixed income, this could be a real problem. Ditto for those living paycheck-to-paycheck. It is not always possible to turn off the air conditioning in the middle of the day during a triple-digit Oklahoma summer.

There also are significant security concerns associated with smart meters, a part of the smartgrid system, are networked devices.

Virtually every networked device has some sort of vulnerability that allows it to be remotely compromised. A number of people and organizations, among them the Gartner Group and InGuardians, a network security research firm, have been pointing out that smart meters belong to this category of devices.

If compromised, they would allow an attacker to theoretically turn off power to whatever the smart meter is attached to.

If that happened, it could be a hassle for individuals, a real problem for businesses and a critical issue for hospitals, the defense sector and any operation that requires a reliable supply of power. It is well-known that our infrastructure — power lines, oil pipes, interstates — is poorly guarded against possible attacks, terroristic or otherwise. Given Google’s recent experience with China, is it really a good idea to make our power infrastructure potentially hackable?

In addition to getting used to the new battle lines, we also must get used to the idea that there are no longer any easy decisions. Maybe there never were — but there are certainly none now.

On the balance, smartgrids are an important part of the constellation of changes we will have to make into the coming century.

The problems associated with them are not insurmountable, and while they will not solve our problems in and of themselves, they are a necessary part of the puzzle.

Without useful and reliable information about power usage, effective and smart consumption reduction is much more difficult.