Re: Your Thermostats or Your Life!

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

________________________________________
From: Michael O'Dell [mo () ccr org]
Sent: Sunday, January 13, 2008 8:15 PM
To: David Farber
Cc: Michael O'Dell
Subject: Re: [IP] Re:   Your Thermostats or Your Life!

demand-response management has advanced in the last 10 years.
but more importantly, utilities are moving to real-time power pricing
even for consumers.

as for "just $5", the savings per customer from 10 years ago is hardly
applicable today.

in particular, in California, in the early morning, the price of power
can
actually be negative - that's when all the generation is spinning, ready
for the onslaught of toasters and coffee makers. the problem is that
they
never know exactly when that will be, but they *must* have the assets
spinning at the ready because it takes 10s of minutes to throttle-up a
fossil-fuel power plant, and missing the ramp could be catastrophic.

because of the large spinning reserve, there is a lot of surplus power
until the load ramp does start. consequently, if you can take power
off the grid
and then be able stop relatively quickly, they will *pay you* to take
the power.

however, later at 4pm  in the afternoon, when the air conditioning is
running flat-out,
they may be buying power on the spot market for 30 times the 10am cost.
load shedding in those peak windows can have huge financial impact for
the utility.

this is not to say i'm delighted by the notion of someone turning the
dial for me, but the time is coming when there will be a live data
feed with
the instantaneous prices for power. there may be significant advantages
to having active power management in the house so it can turn the knobs.

        -mo




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