Promises and Pitfalls of Smart Grid - Smart Grid (R) Evolution: Electric Power Struggles - page 31

Taking Control
One promise of smart grid is that people who have previously been relatively passive
consumers can become actively engaged in making important decisions about how they
will interact with the electricity system. This promise embraces the notion that information
is power: if customers have more information they can have more control, and play an
active role in aligning their priorities with management of their electricity systems. In
addition to better managing their personal energy use, the smart grid prosumer could be
involved in the creation of community energy systems, integrating distributed generation
such as rooftop solar, combined heat and power units, and demand response and
communityenergystoragethroughaseriesofmicrogrids.Thegoalofenergyindependence
hasbecomeincreasinglyimportanttosomeindividualsandcommunities;itisnotjustatthe
national scale that energy independence emerges as a form of empowerment. To those who
strivetowardenergyindependence,smartgridofferspotentialforgreaterenergyautonomy,
empowering individuals, organizations, and communities to determine their own electricity
generationanduse(Collier 2013 ).Beyondthetechnicalchangesassociatedwithprosumers
generating their own electricity, prosumers are empowered to change the rules which have
governed the system for the past century. Although they cannot change the laws of physics,
they can push for new rules and new business models related to what matters to them.
Revising existing legal frameworks toensure component interoperability forsmart gridcan
encourage system innovation by codifying both the new rules and the freedom to change
them (Arnold 2013 ) . As we began writing this topic in the net zero-energy passive house
in Donegal, Ireland designed by Cathal Stephens (Stephens 2011 ) , we took satisfaction in
the knowledge that the same wind that was chilling the outside air was also turning the
wind turbine and generating the electricity to heat our water, cook our food, and power our
computers.
Although, as we noted in the section on economic promises, the word prosumer is
typically used within the energy sector to describe these individuals who simultaneously
produce and consume electricity (Grijalva and Tariq 2011 ) , these individuals have a much
broader social significance. Futurist Alvin Toffler (Toffler 1980 ) coined the word to
describe how people would function in a world made possible by electric media, where the
roles of producer and consumer would become indistinguishable. More recently it has been
offered as a descriptor of participants in the new world of Web 2.0, where it is possible for
anyone to generate, organize, and alter information content (Gerhardt 2008 ) .
Although prosumers may install solar panels and wind turbines to produce electricity,
and then sell the excess electricity back to the grid, buying and selling electricity only
scratches the surface of their influence on system change. Energy prosumers may become
invested in the electricity system in ways that transcend immediate financial costs and