The end of January brought with it two smart grid-focused conferences in the space of a week in downtown Toronto, Ontario. What rang through, loud and clear, in what I heard there was the Ontario's desire, through legislation, to bring the province to the forefront of today's green economy via renewable energy and its enabler, the smart grid. This hasn't been an overnight goal - the province has been at it for years, in an effort to reduce its carbon footprint and to increase available green manufacturing jobs.