physics

Smart Grid Energy Research Center

Smart Grid Energy Research Center is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Smart Grid Energy Research Center rather than just read about it. In short: The UCLA Smart Grid Energy Research Center (SMERC), located on the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) campus, is an organization focused on developing the technologies for Smart grid. SMERC partners includes government agencies, technology providers, Department of Energy (DOE) research labs, universities, utilities, policymakers, electric vehicle manufacturers, and appliance manufacturers.

Key takeaways

Smart Grid Energy Research Center belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Smart Grid Energy Research Center to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Smart Grid Energy Research Center from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The UCLA Smart Grid Energy Research Center (SMERC), located on the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) campus, is an organization focused on developing the technologies for Smart grid. SMERC partners includes government agencies, technology providers, Department of Energy (DOE) research labs, universities, utilities, policymakers, electric vehicle manufacturers, and appliance manufacturers. Currently, SMERC is performing research on Microgrids, automated demand response, electric vehicle integration (G2V, or Grid-to-Vehicle and V2G, or Vehicle-to-Grid), Cybersecurity, and distributed and renewable integration. SMERC has partnerships with USC and Caltech/Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and LADWP in a smart grid demonstration project. Internationally, SMERC has collaborated with the Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER). This partnership involves SMERC testing and developing software and platforms related to smart grid technology, while KIER focuses on multiple renewable energy technologies, such as solar, wind, and fuel cells, as well as wireless communications and semiconductor systems.

Background "While the electrical grid in the United States is very reliable, it is currently somewhat limited in its ability to incorporate new renewable energy sources, effectively manage demand response, sense and monitor trouble spots, and repair itself." This reliability will not last if the grid systems stay the same as populations and electricity demands rise. This demand warrants new technologies and systems to provide and manage demand response, sensory/monitor repair, and self-repair to help stabilize the grid. SMERC has been building these technologies since the fall of 2004. The system also calls for better efficiency among energy generators and savers. Currently, the main grid in North America is up to 100 years old, and thus needs to be updated to handle the intermittency of renewable energy sources (solar power, wind turbines, etc.).

Funding The first major act in updating the current grid was the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) stimulus package (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, i.e. ARRA). The ARRA invested approximately $4.4 billion on Smart Grid research. LADWP received $60 million from the DOE's stimulus package. The Waxman–Markley comprehensive energy bill (American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009) increased the public knowledge and impact on the electric transmission grid. The act was designed with the stated intention to reduce greenhouse emissions by 17 percent by 2020. This reduction would require there to be a concentration on energy consumption and production. Collaborations among utilities, government, technology providers, and universities are made being to provide information and technologies for new Smart Grid and Smart Energy Technology to reach this goal. SMERC also receives funding from California Energy Commission, EPRI, KIER, and the UCLA Smart Grid Industry Partners Program(SMERC-IPP).

Projects The Smart Grid Energy Research Center (SMERC) consists of several key projects as follows:

Connected and Autonomous Electric Vehicles (CAEV) CAEVTM is a UCLA-led consortium whose members consist of automotive companies, electric and autonomous transportation providers, and electric power companies who are attempting to change the automotive industry into one that is electric, digital, connected, "smart", autonomous, and serves the growing transportation and energy needs of society for the 21st century and beyond. The purpose of the consortium is to create a partnership of Electric Vehicle and autonomous vehicle manufacturers in California, partnering with newer energy companies.

UCLA WINSmart Grid "The UCLA WINSmartGridTM is a network platform technology that allows electricity-operated appliances such as plug-in automobiles, washers, dryers, or air conditioners to be wirelessly monitored, connected, and controlled via a smart wireless hub." The WINSmartGridTM technology uses a Serviceware architecture along with ReWINS technology, divided into three parts: The edgeware controls and utilizes the wireless technology networks and the creation, management, set-up, and maintenance of software and firmware. It connects with RFID tags, motion detectors, temperature monitors, or 10X controllers on refrigerators. Within the WINSmartGridTM hub, a variety of monitors and sensors are supported that the Edgeware has connections to, including humidity, current, voltage, power, shock, motion, chemicals, etc. This hub is capable of supporting wireless protocols (e.g., WiFi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, GPRS, and RFID). The most efficient protocols seem to be low-power protocols such as Zigbee. The Middleware is the "middle man" between the Edgeware and the Centralware. Capable of providing functions such as data filtration, extraction of information, aggregation and messaging of data from the Edgeware, and distribution of the information to the proper destination or web service accordingly. The Centralware is the decision-making web service, it receives all information, calculates what some optimal decisions are based on rules, and carries out the execution of these decisions. Currently, the WINSmartGridTM Centralware is running on a basic set of rules, whereas it will eventually work with external services as they begin to come online.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Smart Grid Energy Research Center

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Smart Grid Energy Research Center claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Smart Grid Energy Research Center before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Smart Grid Energy Research Center ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Smart Grid Energy Research Center

In research: Smart Grid Energy Research Center appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Smart Grid Energy Research Center in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Smart Grid Energy Research Center is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Electric vehicle technologies, Energy research institutes, Smart grid, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Smart Grid Energy Research Center outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Smart Grid Energy Research Center in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Smart Grid Energy Research Center means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Smart Grid Energy Research Center out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Smart Grid Energy Research Center in simple terms?

Why does Smart Grid Energy Research Center matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Smart Grid Energy Research Center?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Smart Grid Energy Research Center.