For the purposes of my research and my posts “Smart Grid” will refer to a fully integrated, fully communicative, real-time self-monitoring, self-regulating, self-healing electrical system that connects power generation facilities, transmission and distribution lines, substations, factories, offices and homes in its matrix of sensors and data processing stations.  Each nodes on the grid (i.e. anywhere electricity is created, transmitted, transformed, used, or accounted for in a financial system) will have a sensor programmed to optimize that node’s function, interactivity, and contribution to the whole system.  The sensor will be programmed to make a local adjustment in the function of the node, report the condition to another sensor, or report the condition to the central system to suggest a broader action.