ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on smart grids and describes its objectives and challenges. It provides the authors' perspective to pervasive energy management applications for the residential consumers and introduces the recently proposed techniques. Pervasive communications enable the adoption of the energy management applications in the daily routines of the consumers while making them personalized and available anywhere/anytime. Smart grid, electric transportation, and future Internet are few examples of the technologies that are aligned with the low-carbon economy goals. The existing power grid has become inefficient to meet the reliability and the availability expectations of the consumers. Smart grid implementations in different geographic locations may be different; however, the major objectives of the smart grid are similar globally. In the smart grid, renewable generation will be available for large-scale generation as well as small-scale generation such as residential premises. Solar panels and small wind tribunes are already available for home owners.
