The American landscape has changed over the last century. But one thing has remained the same.

Van Jones interview (00:17:45) -- If you look at a movie from the 1940s, all right, everything in the movie is different. The phones are different. The cars are different. The clothes are different, but the power lines are exactly the same. The same power lines are still up there, you know, 50 years later. Uh, why? Because we have not had an advance in energy transmission.

Van Jones advises the President on green jobs. He says a new electrical smart grid that stretches across the country will help move energy from wind and solar more efficiently. It could also move America's power lines underground. Extreme weather conditions like heat, ice storms and hurricanes can severely damage or destroy overhead power lines. This causes potentially dangerous disruptions in service.

Going underground can be more expensive, but it eases the headache and costs of putting lines across congested urban centers. It also gets those ugly power lines out of sight.