Top 10 Things Consumers Want Most from the Smart Grid
The concept of a "smart" electrical power grid is one of the most promising ways societies might improve energy efficiency. Here's how Wikipedia describes the smart grid idea.
Realizing the smart grid entails many engineering and technical challenges including data mining, human interfaces, privacy preservation, controlling cyber-physical systems and security. Professor Nilanjan Banerjee is a new UMBC faculty member who has been involved in many of these topics and has several ongoing research projects that address smart grid problems, including two recent NSF awards.
"A smart grid is an electrical grid that uses information and communications technology to gather and act on information, such as information about the behaviors of suppliers and consumers, in an automated fashion to improve the efficiency, reliability, economics, and sustainability of the production and distribution of electricity."
In April 2012, the nonprofit Smart Grid Consumer Collaborative conducted 24 consumer interviews in three U.S. cities. In random order, this list offers ten themes found across the conversations as consumers shared the benefits they want out of a more advanced electrical grid.
