Households in the smart grid: existing knowledge and new approaches

It is a widespread assumption within the energy sector that the “smart grid” will be a crucial element of a future low-carbon energy system, and households are assigned an important role in this (particularly in relation to balancing consumption and production). However, this raises questions about the integration of consumers’ everyday life practices in this system. This paper introduces the ideas of the smart grid and review relevant demonstration projects. Special focus is on the role of consumers and electric vehicles. The paper ends with introducing major research questions and presents a new research project focusing on some of these.