Similar desires, different approaches.
Zhen Zhang is an environmental attorney and a global energy fellow at the Vermont Law School’s Institute for Energy and Environment.
This article, the first of a two-part series, is edited from the author’s white paper, Current European Union and United States Smart Grid Developments: Similar Desires, Different Approaches, to be published in early 2011 at Fortnightly.com.
In the last few years the media has been abuzz over the smart grid. Definitions abound, as well as numerous interpretations. The definition is the starting point of a cohesive vision that governments can use to make the smart grid a reality. As the literature in both the European Union and United States show, the definitions contain basic concepts. The multifaceted nature of the smart grid is illustrated by the ways the two governments understand it.