Review of Key Points of Sustainable Consumption in the Smart Grid

The goal of radically increasing renewable energies pushes the current electrical grid to its limits. Smart technologies on the demand side and intelligent storage are keys to cope with fluctuating inputs from distributed generation. In this vein, consumers increasingly gain new opportunities to act flexibly and beneficially towards the grid by adopting innovative technologies. However, this needs to tackle informational barriers. Even today, consumers are estimated to have a considerable bandwidth of some 5 to 14.5 tonnes to deviate from the average emission. While consumer tips for lightweight resource and energy lifestyles are abundant, the key points of sustainable consumption concept provides a theoretically profound way to focus precisely on those areas where consumption unfolds its full sustainability potential. Accordingly, new key points can be identified from the manifold new opportunities for sustainable consumption created by the emergence of innovative technology in the smart grid. Expected findings are first the identification of new key points of sustainable consumption in the renewable smart home and second a qualitative evaluation of the information that is transferred by current German consumer guidebooks on the topic.