Hot Topic: IEEE: Leading Smart Grid Efforts Globally

IEEE, the world’s largest technical professional association, is at the forefront of both helping the world’s citizens understand the benefits of smart grid, while also creating a forum for collaboration for all entities involved in this groundbreaking initiative. Members of IEEE have been working diligently on numerous aspects of smart grid development and execution, including developing interoperability standards, ensuring that the smart grid is environment-friendly and enacting protocols to maintain the grid’s security.

As the smart grid development program has become a top priority - to move nations toward energy independence and environmentally sustainable economic growth - IEEE and other prominent organizations are working in collaboration to create a framework of standards that will bring together numerous industries, including power, security, technology, manufacturing, government, and communications toward furtherance of this vision. In the U.S., Dr. E. James Prendergast, Executive Director of IEEE, participated earlier this month in the Smart Grid Leadership meeting, organized by Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and Energy Secretary Steven Chu, which brought together industry leaders to share their vision on how to utilize standards to create a roadmap for successful smart grid implementation.