Re: Digital Tools Help Users Save Energy, Study Finds

[Neil Cherry <njc@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Sun, 13 Jan 2008 12:03:52 -0500, Robert Green wrote:
> http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/10/technology/10energy.html?ref=science
>
> "Giving people the means to closely monitor and adjust their electricity use
> lowers their monthly bills and could significantly reduce the need to build
> new power plants, according to a yearlong government study.

I question the 'reduce the need to build new power plants' portion.
I'd agree with reduce the number of new plants.

> The results of the research project by the Pacific Northwest National
> Laboratory of the Energy Department, released Wednesday, suggest that if
> households have digital tools to set temperature and price preferences, the
> peak loads on utility grids could be trimmed by up to 15 percent a year."

Skipping the environmental debate, if we had tools that would allow us
to monitor each device's power usage we could probably come up with
tools that allow us to figure out a lot more. Say I have a
refrigerator that was new 3 years ago and it uses x kw avg/day. If I
monitor it I may be able to determine that the unit is going bad (it's
now using 1.5 * x kw avg/day). Or maybe I can figure out that if I
purchase a new 'frig in n months I'll be able to save more money
(return on investment in y months at current power pricing).
Monitoring our own usage allows us to more than 'green' it allows us
to use our money more wisely. I've always found that it's easier to
sell money-wise vs enviro-wise.

Here's something from California on a related subject, it's titled:
"California Seeks Thermostat Control". The gist of the story is that
the California Energy Commission wants to be able to control the
temperature of your HVAC to 'manage electricity shortages'.

Here's the link that appear on Slashdot:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/11/us/11control.html?ex=1357707600&en=708b7b53b2933934&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all

If you get nasty wrap:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/11/us/11control.html?ex=1357707600&;
en=708b7b53b2933934&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all

cut and paste the second set of lines together before sending.

I can easily see this being used throughout the country. It does make
me a bit nervous. I'd like to understand the rules. The reason it
makes me nervous is that the local power companies have been going out
of their way to reduce cost at the sake of quality. We have power
problems in my area because they refuse to expand but rather just add
onto the existing strained system.

--
Linux Home Automation         Neil Cherry       ncherry@xxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.linuxha.com/                         Main site
http://linuxha.blogspot.com/                    My HA Blog
Author of:    	Linux Smart Homes For Dummies