Scientific Computing (Rockaway, N.J., March 20) -- Smart grids – power grids that adapt to changes in demand and reconfigure as needed to avoid overloads and other problems – can reduce energy costs, help avoid blackouts and deter cyber attacks. A team led by researchers at North Carolina State University, with partners from the Renaissance Computing Institute at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Illinois, are using cloud computing resources to analyze smart grid data from thousands of sensors.