In a recent study Forrester Research asked the question, Will Consumers Pay For A Media Center PC? -- "Dell, Gateway, and Hewlett-Packard sell PCs running Microsoft's Windows Media Center software that allows consumers to work with digital media, including music, video, and photos. But are consumers interested in these features? To find out, we surveyed 5,000 households in Forrester's Consumer Technographics North American Study. Our resulting data shows that while as many as 25 percent of consumers are interested in media and entertainment activities on their PCs, only half of these will pay � and most won't pay more than $100 for the features. The study also uncovered that consumers who will pay for media activities want to do so only once."
What was once a simple, unidirectional flow of electricity from centralized power plants to passive consumers is evolving into a complex, intelligent network where millions of distributed resources actively participate in grid operations. This transformation, powered by smart grid technologies, represents one of the most significant infrastructure shifts of our time. It promises to reshape how we generate, distribute, and consume energy. At its core, the smart grid represents far more than mere digitization of existing infrastructure. This bi-directional capability is fundamental to understanding why smart grids are becoming the backbone of modern energy systems, facilitating everything from real-time demand response to the integration of renewable energy sources. Smart Grid Market Development By 2030, smart grid technologies are projected to cover nearly half of the global electrical grid, up dramatically from just 24 percent in 2025. This expansion is underpinned by explosive gr...