I'm a World Citizen. This is not an attempt at proper world governance. It's traditional bullsh*t. Who are you calling a 'hippie'? I hope that wasn't intended to be an insult...The site's called TreeHugger.com.
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It was intended as ironic humor. Like your site by the way.

Hmm...On second thought, I support this, so long as it isn't forced on people. I mean people do waste A LOT of energy, even if it's not intentional. This may be just another sacrifice we have to make to avoid a horrible climate shift. Sometimes, you must stumble, so as not to fall.

Sound a little like big brother to me.What happen if you misbehave?

Only if its voluntary and has an override.

I really disagree with this idea. Trying to control people's appliances for them isn't going to do anything but piss them off. While I think increased usage monitoring is a good thing when information is supplied to the consumer (not the power company), I think the control of a consumer's appliances and home is theirs and theirs alone.

What would be the next step? Requiring consumers to update their appliances, at their own expense, when they're found to be using more energy than what is deemed "acceptable"? I have four computers in my home. Would some new requirement be devised that said I'm not allowed to have them in a residential household because they might use too much energy?

If you want to limit energy consumption, do it with prices. As supply goes down, demand goes up, and prices rise. People will either have to change their habits to bring their energy usage down, or they'll determine the energy usage is more important than some other aspect and adjust their lifestyle to free up funds for the energy bills.

If a customer wants to use some sort of smart metering device to control their own appliances, I think that's fine, as long as it's left up to them to make that decision, and it isn't forced on anyone who doesn't want it.

The Smart Meter was run as a pilot project in our neighborhood last year. It teaches when NOT to use electricity - PEAK Hours. We started to do laundry, dishwasher on weekends or after 10:00 pm and received a check for $80 (savings) after 4 months. Not bad. I hope they make them permanent. We learned a lot about "when" to use our power. Great idea - until we are ready to go completely off the grid (or sell back to the grid)

This is such a ridiculous idea.

Socialist/communist sheep want the gov't to control people's lives through legislating personal choice away.

Grow some balls. Don't you believe in freedom?

I think this idea needs a couple of iterations, but the base thought sounds pretty good. If there is a way that the consumer can be involved in the decision making process before appliances are shut off, this could drastically reduce demand.

The fact of the matter is what gets measured, gets improved. If you can bring greater transperancy to usage, you can reduce demand and cut CO2 emissions.

Everyone seems to prefer taxes, but if you are wealthy enough you won't change your habits. If enough people are rich enough, nothing changes.

What connection is there between the price of electricity, and what is emitted from power stations?? No such thing as a dollar in nature.

Peak electricy is more expensive to produce than baseload electricy. So it is not more than logical to pay more for electricy at peak hours. That doesn't mean, the utility has to control your dishwasher, it just means you electricy meter can handle this price difference. It is than up to the consumer to react to that: business as usual, running the dishwasser at of peak-times by hand, or installing smart appliiences that reactdirectly to the electricity price.

I really like the concept, but might take it in a slightly different route. For the first 5-10 years of "smart" meters, we could obviously let people opt in for HVAC control, that's cool, but I think this technology can be applied in a much better way.

Imagine this:

- In the US, local governments know the square footage of homes already
- If the electricity company now knows when the HVAC runs (whether people have setbacks on their system), some very interesting stuff can be determined

The elec company can then tell if the HVAC runs during the "day" and can add energy savings comments to their bill, something like, "If you setback your thermostat during the day, you could have saved $xx this month".

Even more important, they could determine the energy usage per sq ft and cycle times compared to energy draw and pretty easily tell if the customers' HVAC systems are running efficiently or if it's an old energy hog. Again, based on usage patterns, sq ft, time of the day the system runs, outdoor air temps, sun exposure, the elec company could send a note, "Upgrade your HVAC system and save $xx per month". Most people don't know how much they can save by replacing old, tired equipment.

Heck, using sun exposure numbers and comparing bills (incremental energy usage), it could easily be identified which homes would benefit most from better attic ventilation and/or radiant barriers!

When we were shopping for a house last year, about 80% of the houses we looked at had A/C systems below 10SEER or more than 10 years old. The house we bought had a 17-year old with internal leaking valves. The first two weeks we were in the house, and not during a really hot period, our bill was $230 (so it would have been a $450 month!!!). We upgraded to a 16-SEER, dual stage system and our most recent bill (for JUNE, a warmer month than the initial two weeks) was for $166. Increased insulation, sealing leaks and a new HVAC system - things that will pay for themselves in roughly 4-5 years in my case.

If Enron taught us anything, it's that bad actors will inviegle (sp?) themselves into systems that were designed for a public benefit and squeeze profit out for themselves. You run the risk that the power company will cut your power not based on grid needs, but based on a model of when it's least profitable for them to sell your power. And you go along sheepishly because you think your sacrifice is actually going to thrift and economy.

There always seems to be some operator who always pays himself before delivering the public their bonum. Witness our nations' public lands and the natural resources on them.

The key is for the utility companies to be non-intrusive. Mine cycles my AC for short intervals, at specific times. They do it in such a way that I never notice it. In addition to the small amount of power I save, I receive a $30 credit every summer. Win-win.

This is such a ridiculous idea.
Socialist/communist sheep want the gov't to control people's lives through legislating personal choice away.
Grow some balls. Don't you believe in freedom?

The black helicopters are coming! Hide!

Austin Energy has been installing these systems for a couple years now by request.

You get a nice programmable thermostat & installation. I never had any issues with it. It's only used on Peak demand days, and for a max of 10 minutes per 1/2 hour.

It's important for the Power Company to set reasonable rules for turning off your A/C, and making sure people understand it.

Big Brother problem is huge unless you give consumers control and more value than just turning off air-conditioners, that's why Smart Grid with broadband, real-time communications is a better "futureproof" option. Smart Grid can reduce inefficiencies in the ENTIRE grid and prevent outages (something consumers love). Also Smart Grid allows net-metering, that is paying consumers to put power back into the grid with solar panels, small wind or in future Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles. Meters are "dumb meters" if they aren't part of a Smart Grid.