## 1 Introduction
### Microgrid Control and Its Integration with the Utilities
A given recommendation to make easier the process of data mapping is to use unique building identifiers as common keys in the data sources (in this way, a certain standardization could be reached). The application of the described integration methods and workflow is also made for the cases of other US cities with the objective of developing the city-scale datasets of their buildings, such as San Jose, Los Angeles, and Boston. However, no mention is made here of the role of the electric utilities servicing these buildings' energy needs, which is a key point taking into account the recent and current evolution of the whole power system and the changes in related legislation, as it was explained before. The energy management in a power system can also be understood under the perspective of Homeostatic Control (based on Homeostasis), in order to establish the relationship between the variables and actions that must be taken into account by the system. The concept of Homeostasis, which was originally defined for the biological field, describes how living organisms regulate themselves to keep internal conditions stable (and avoid external disturbances) [31]. This biological principle can be adapted to create an energy management system (EMS) for a microgrid, whose objective is keeping all the conditions of the system (keep enough energy in batteries, load monitoring to avoid excessive consumption, etc.) stable [16]. Specifically, it can be described as keeping continuous feedback between energy supply, generation and consumption (and also all other disaggregated values and variables in the microgrid), so as other action algorithms can be easily implemented to achieve certain objectives. These objectives could be a better use of renewable energy resources and DER [32], a wise management of storage systems and, of course, the use of more complicated information provided by the distribution system operator or the utility (which would correspond to the integration of explicit and implicit demand response (DR) programs) [20]. As can be seen, this type of control system has a huge potential to achieve a better integration between a building and the environment (i.e., the power supplier and the renewable energy resources) and also a smarter use of the building (from the point of view of internal conditions as temperature and comfort). There are multiple published papers in the field of homeostatic control and its applications in EPS and sustainable hybrid energy systems (SHES). [33; 34] show the application of these principles over micro-generation systems and over different hybrid energy systems that include energy demand response. Moreover, [35] make a study of energy homeostasis from the point of view of exergy management and show that HC applications in EPS in general, and particularly in SHES, boost the energy content in the system itself. The exergy is a thermodynamic concept that can be defined as the maximum useful work extracted from a system, as it reversibly comes into equilibrium with its environment. Likewise, exergy is also a measure of energy quality and is defined relative to a system's environment. Therefore, whenever the energy efficiency of the EPS is raised, and there is more energy available in the microgrid to supply electricity to consumers, while at the same time, having the alternative of the grid supply, the higher the exergy in the system as a whole becomes. What this means is that with the grouping of consumers in the residential building, coupled with the microgrid installed in the same building and the grid constitute a single system, that is capable of elevating its exergy content, as it increases its energy efficiency and productivity over certain period of time of its electricity generation and supply versus consumption dynamics. Finally, [36] expose the application of homeostatic control without energy storage. One of the advantages of this type of control is its scalability.