UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — What do honey bees and electric power grids have in common? More than you might think, according to Wangda Zuo, professor of architectural engineering at Penn State. Zuo is leading a new project funded by a $1 million award from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) to investigate how coordinating and controlling distributed energy resources — similar to how honey bees regulate their colony’s resources — may help improve the distribution resiliency of electric grids.
Working with collaborators at the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of Vermont and industry partner Evoke Systems, the team is specifically exploring how insights from honey bee colonies can improve coordination and resilience in distributed energy resources, like rooftop solar and community microgrids. By mimicking the way bees communicate and adapt to challenges, the researchers aim to design a “virtual peer-to-peer electric network,” according to Zuo, that could withstand disruptions and help modernize how energy is delivered.
In the following Q&A, Zuo explained why looking to nature can inspire new ways of solving critical infrastructure challenges.
Q: Why look to honey bees for inspiration in grid design?
Zuo: Honey bees are masters of coordination. Inside a hive, thousands of bees work together sharing food, balancing needs and keeping the colony running smoothly without any central command. That’s exactly the kind of teamwork we need for the future electric grid.
Our project borrows ideas from the way bees exchange and store energy to build smarter, more resilient power systems. If bees can manage complex energy sharing in nature, we can learn from them to design grids that are flexible, efficient and self-organizing.
Q: How does this honey bee-inspired approach differ from traditional grid control?
Zuo: Today’s electric grid is like a top-down organization. Decisions flow from a few operators, and power mostly flows one way. But as more homes add solar panels, batteries and electric vehicles, the grid is becoming more dynamic and unpredictable.
Our honey bee-inspired approach flips the model. Instead of waiting for central commands, devices like electric vehicles or heat pumps can “talk” to each other and share energy directly, much like bees deciding when to feed each other or store honey. This peer-to-peer coordination could make the grid more adaptable and resilient, especially during storms or high-demand periods
Q: How might this approach to energy distribution look for everyday consumers in the future?
Zuo: Imagine a neighborhood where homes, cars and batteries automatically share energy the way bees share food. Your electric car could help power your house — or even your neighbor’s — during an outage.
This kind of “energy sharing network” could lower costs, reduce blackouts and make energy more accessible for everyone, especially in communities that have struggled with high energy bills. In short, it’s a smarter, fairer and more resilient grid for the 21st century.
Q: What role does your team at Penn State play in this collaborative project?
Zuo: At Penn State, we’re leading the overall effort and focusing on how buildings and their energy systems, such as heat pumps and water heaters, can act as smart partners in the grid. We’re working closely with researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of Vermont and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Together, we’re blending biology, computer science and engineering to test these ideas in virtual simulations and real-world microgrids.