Smart Power Meters and Real-Time Pricing Leads to Saved Energy and Money
by Michael Graham Richard, Gatineau, Canada on 05. 7.08
Smart electricity meters and real-time pricing are an important first step in modernizing our electrical grid. Right now it is pretty dumb in most places, charging the same rate during peak hour as in the middle of the night, with no way to reward those who make an effort to have better consumption patterns.
But that's slowly changing. An example of that is PPL's pilot program that offers to install "smart" power meters and alternative pricing methods to the traditional "average monthly rate" to residential customers, something that has been available for years to industrial clients.
"By signing up tens of millions of people like Brubaker to change patterns of electric usage, the companies expect the new power meters and time-based rates to help avoid blackouts, curb greenhouse gas emissions and beat back the immediate need to build expensive new power plants."
There are various levels of "real-time" pricing. Some work with big chunks of the day (from noon to 7 PM, for example). Others are really real-time, with fluctuations throughout the day based on demand on the grid. "People who sign up for such plans may receive signals, such as e-mails or cell phone messages, to tell them prices are climbing dangerously."
Last year, about 95 percent of the participants saved money in Commonwealth Edison's open-enrollment residential real-time pricing program, thought to be the nation's first. The majority saved between 7 to 12 percent, the utility said.
Talk about a high success rate! And with the introduction of smarter appliances and electronics that can be programmed to react a certain way to certain rates, this should go higher. Right now the meters and rates might be getting smarter, but the savings still mostly depend on a person taking some actions each time rates go up or down.
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I'm part of the Power Smart Pricing program in Urbana, IL, and saved 10% on average over the past year. The main changes that I make are washing and drying my clothes late at night, and running my dishwasher then as well. However, I'm also a researcher at the Illinois Security Lab, and we're working on ways to cause appliances to automatically respond to the prices. You can read our paper at this URL if you're interested: http://seclab.uiuc.edu/pubs/LeMayNGG08.pdf Our main project page that this project falls under is here: http://seclab.uiuc.edu/web/critical-infrastructure/attested-metering.html I hate to put so many plugs into this post, but I figure other treehuggers might be interested in what we're investigating. Exciting stuff!
This concept was though-out a long time ago by myself and many others. So, where does one get a smart meter? That is the real solution. Do we have to wait until our utility company wake up? Can we just install a gizmo to the existing meter? Why are these answers never revealed?
To take advantage of the variable rates that smart meters are primarily used to implement, your utility must allow you to select such a variable rate. In my area (Urbana, IL), it's an opt-in program, but I believe that most areas still do not offer such a program. However, if you just want to monitor your home's energy consumption, you can certainly purchase something even better than a smart meter on your own. One example of such a device that I have used personally is the TrendPoint EnerSure meter that can monitor each circuit breaker in your house individually. Many comparable devices are on the market today, so you'll need to do some research to see which is right for you.
Echelon (ELON) is a terrific company in California that has been perfecting this technology for 20 years. Many countries in Europe have used Echelon's smart metering technology with great results. McDonald's has also recently signed a contract with Echelon to make the "kitchen of the future" which will be energy saving.
So far, American electric companies have been slow to adapt to these new ideas. I hope if we get a Democratic president in office, it will help move things along. It's nice to see Illinois getting with the program!
Will any of these meters that can be purchased show real time data via the internet for example. Or at least generate a report on your computer.
I have been working on a website dedicated to greening an older home and it would be great if I could post my energy usage on it as well.
All this Banter about Smart Meters & Nearby in the Greater Toronto Area Smart Power Meters &
Real-Time Pricing Leads to possibly
even more Energy & Money for Unpublic Utilities as
a study by residents here has noted an Increase in Bills
after a Digital Meter replaced the Old Round style pict above
http://www.topix.net/forum/world/canada/T6S4DNM03IJTDK1PL
Control4's Home Automation System is currently integrating zigbee power meters into their product. This will enable your house to react to the different demand periods specified by your power company. If your power meter determines that it is a peak period then for control4 will change your house to say set a maximum of 70% on your lights or it will only let you go +- 5 degrees on your thermostat. It will also allow you to schedule things to start up when a particular event happens (say for example power demand is off-peak).
For more information about control4 please visit http://www.control4.com