The nation suffered its worst blackout in history on August 14. Forty million people, including many in Michigan, lost power after a local disruption in Ohio spread catastrophically across major parts of the Eastern U.S. and Canada. Some self-styled "experts" would point to a shortage of power plants as the cause. In fact, the real problem is a flawed transmission grid. Three things in particular could improve the grid's reliability and reduce the likelihood of future blackouts.

One, we should modernize the electricity transmission system. This would require serious investment in new cable and transfer equipment to fix bottlenecks where they exist. In addition, we must bring operating procedures up to date. Reliability standards are voluntary. These should be mandatory and enforceable to hold operators accountable.

Two, we should undertake energy efficiency measures to reduce the strain on the electricity grid. In Michigan, Governor Granholm should adopt the 2000 International Energy Conservation Codes for all new construction projects in the state. She should also establish a revolving fund to pay for retrofit efficiency projects in thousands of public facilities statewide. Financial returns on these projects tend to be bond-grade or higher, so the fund would be kept solvent.

Three, we should build more decentralization into the grid by moving toward smaller, more dispersed sources of power, including wind, solar and biomass. This would improve reliability by limiting the overall impact of a single disruption. To achieve this, the Michigan House should pass either of two net metering bills (HB 4015 and HB 4090) that provide for interconnection standards and sale of excess power to the grid. It should also pass HB 4970, which requires utilities to supply a certain percentage of electricity from renewable sources. Of course, the Senate should follow suit in both areas.

A number of red herrings have been proposed as solutions to the recent blackout. However, relaxing environmental regulations on power plants, drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and opening sensitive public lands to oil and gas exploration will do nothing to fix the transmission bottlenecks that caused the lights to go out. The real solution is clear: modernize the grid by investing in efficient, distributed technologies and hold the system operators accountable.