“Cloud Computing”—A phrase used to describe a variety of computing concepts that involve a large number of computers connected through a real-time communication network such as the Internet. In science, cloud computing is a synonym for distributed computing over a network, and means the ability to run a program or application on many connected computers at the same time.

“Virtualized User”—The smallest unit of virtualized consumption. The smallest unit would be a virtualized representation of a single plug-in appliance, the estimated energy consumed to process a transaction, or any entity directly or indirectly requesting any form of energy.

“Virtualized Device”—A virtualized device is any software representation of a real physical component or entity that contain the same attributes and responds in the same way as the real device.

“Virtualized Consumer”—Any software representation of a person or being, an entity with attributes used to describe relationships with virtualized elements.

“Virtualized Field Bus (VFB)”—A software representation of a data field bus containing input and output variables where some points of data may interface the virtualized data with real physical data.

“Virtualized Generational Element”—Any software representation of steps, processes, methods, or concepts in part or in total that create electrical energy and/or heat.

“Ancillary Services”—Any method or representation that improves the delivery of the utility grid which can include any physical apparatus attached to any portion of the grid or as virtualized portions of the grid that are manipulated through software to improve, modify, or optimize grid power factor or performance using anticipation, synchronization, or limiting algorithms.