When Greenbang heard that the city of Boulder was getting smart, she wasn’t sure what Colorado had other bits of America were somewhat lacking in, notably the area around Paris Hilton. Still, it turns out that it’s not an injection of brain food is not what’s on the menu for Boulder, it’s a smart electricity system.

Courtesy of Xcel Energy, the smart grid system will help the city’s citizens cut down their power consumption and even switch off energy-hogging devices remotely.

The system will also see the “integration of infrastructure to support easily dispatched distributed generation technologies (such as plug-in hybrid electric vehicles with vehicle-to-grid technology; battery systems; wind turbines; and solar panels).”

According to Xcel, the system will go live over the coming years and will be partly funded by itself and partly through government grants. The whole thing should come in around $100 million.

Here’s why Boulder is the lucky city:

In addition to its geographic concentration, ideal size and access to all grid components, Boulder was selected as the Smart Grid City because it is home to the University of Colorado and several federal institutions, including the National Institute of Standards and Technology, which already is involved in smart grid efforts for the federal government.

• Boulder breaks ground on $100m smart grid plan
• Scottish and Southern Energy cuts leccy carbon by half
• Photos: SeaGen turbine in action
• Smart meters: not coming to a home near you anytime soon
• Dell HQ gets gassy green powered
• There will be energy … or trade wars … or something
• Forget the politicians: Vote for your favorite energy innovations
• Great idea: Send politicians to energy school
• The 3 things standing in the way of sustainability
• If wishes were biofuels, we’d all be energy-independent