What are the lessons of Tuesday's off-off-year election?

Republican spin doctors are proclaiming that the phoenix has arisen and a newly popular GOP is poised to cast out the spendy liberals in 2010. Democratic spin doctors are saying that all politics are local and a fratricidal GOP is still bent on eating its young.

If the shoes were on the other feet, both the GOP and Dem pundits likely would be saying exactly the opposite. So, if anyone is inclined to listen to partisan spin doctors, take two tablets of salt and call me in the morning.

Nearly a week later, a few patterns seem apparent.

The country is edgy. Despite the recent stock market froth, unemployment remains high, government debt is way outside people's comfort zone, and many voters are not convinced that the know-it-alls in DC know what the hell they're doing. Wary independent voters are displaying a fickle streak. ...

The Obama administration handed out $3.4 billion in grants the other day to begin building the smart grid - smart meters, smart transformers, smart substations, and smart what-not.

The money will buy lots of smart equipment. What it won't do is buy smart behavior. And there lies one of the great unknowns about the big energy transformation facing America.

Will all that great equipment be put to optimal use - squeezing waste out of our energy production and consumption patterns, integrating cleaner technologies into the electric grid, and banishing oil's shadow over our economy and our international relations? Or will cussed, mercurial human behavior drive our energy economy into unexpected directions?

Let's see how these unknowns might play out. One of the ideas behind the smart grid is that if utilities adopt variable electricity pricing for end-use customers and those customers can see current electricity prices on home data screens tied to their smart meters, they will have the information they need to optimize their demand patterns - say, running the dishwasher late at night when demand is down and prices are lower, rather than during morning or early evening hours, when loads are high and electricity prices reflect higher demand. One benefit of shifting demand to off-peak periods would be reduced need for "peaker" power plants, typically gas-fired combustion turbines.

Would consumers respond to clear price signals and shift their demand patterns in optimal ways? There is some evidence that they would, but much will depend on whether consumers incorporate electricity price monitoring into their daily routines. Some may want to actively manage their electricity use, some may not want to be bothered. Today, no one knows precisely how consumers will respond to the technology.

Take another example - plug-in hybrid-electric cars that use both batteries and internal combustion engines for propulsion. General Motors plans to market the Chevrolet Volt sometime next year. Uber-environmentalist Denis Hayes says the Volt is the best idea that Detroit has had in decades.

The thinking behind a car like the Volt is that many people don't need to drive more than 30 or so miles per day for commuting, errands, and socializing.

Think of wilderness, and common images that come to mind are towering, ice-shrouded mountains, skyscraper forests, or spectacular waterfalls.

Not many think of grasslands. More should. Our species came of age when our ancestors in the deep past came down from the trees, stood up on the grasslands, and looked afar to take the measure of their world. Grasslands have supported us in many ways ever since.

Many of the wild grasslands that once spread across the continent's midlands are gone, swept away by ideas about development and manifest destiny. Still, there are a few grasslands that people of the plains or westward-ho travelers from yesteryear would recognize. There's a strong case for adding some to the National Wilderness Preservation System, the lands and waters that, in outbreaks of wisdom, we set aside as places where we can clear our minds and let nature take its course.