One of the recurrent problems in smart grid is resource allocation considering limited power capacity. What makes smart grid resource allocation so different from other  resource allocation settings is the presence of complex-valued resources (e.g. A/C power, current, voltage). Traditionally, discrete optimization studies mostly concern real-valued resources, which are less useful in smart grid setting.

Our recent work studies a fundamental setting — “Complex-valued Knapsack Problem with Selfish Users”, which casts insights to a wide range of discrete optimization problems in A/C electric grid:

http://arxiv.org/abs/1205.2285

A recent video from Al Jazeera about Masdar City:

Just a few kilometres away from downtown Abu Dhabi a very different kind of development is taking place. Free of skyscrapers and free of cars, Masdar City is a growing city of institutes, businesses, shops and homes, with clean technology at its heart…

http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/earthrise/2011/11/2011113114151330950.html