Comments on: Energy Demand Management II - the sequel! http://greenmonk.net/energy-demand-management-ii-the-sequel/ Green from the roots up, Sustainable from the top down Tue, 07 Oct 2008 23:02:32 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: Greenmonk: the blog : Energy Demand Management trials http://greenmonk.net/energy-demand-management-ii-the-sequel/#comment-3336 Greenmonk: the blog : Energy Demand Management trials Wed, 28 May 2008 15:45:10 +0000 http://greenmonk.net/?p=145#comment-3336 [...] Demand Management is a topic we have covered a few times on this blog already because we believe it will be a vital component in helping us better manage [...] [...] Demand Management is a topic we have covered a few times on this blog already because we believe it will be a vital component in helping us better manage [...]

]]> By: Doug Neal http://greenmonk.net/energy-demand-management-ii-the-sequel/#comment-3018 Doug Neal Tue, 29 Apr 2008 14:55:22 +0000 http://greenmonk.net/?p=145#comment-3018 Thanks for calling attention to the big investments utilities are making in smart metering. We need to be thinking about how theycan be used to support Green initiatives. As I learned at the recent Next Generation Utilities conference in Austin ( http://www.ngusummit.com/index.asp ) these meters may well be connected to the web via Broadband Over PowerLine and within the house they may support Zigbee. So, utilities are interested because they reduce service calls to the home ( aka "truck rolls" ) by 30% or more, but we should be interested in how they can monitor energy use in a way that people will be made much more aware of what power their devices are using. Today most people don't know the power that their devices draw. Most of us don't know what our computers draw when on full or on standby, unless we have purchased a device like the Kill-A-Watt ( http://p3international.com/products/special/P4400/P4400-CE.html ). For example, with Zigbee you could likely develop a cheap refrigerator magnet that would be color coded for intenstity of power use. Get kids to monitor it and urge their parents to be greener. You could imagine other uses of the social network. What about a badge on your Facebook page showing you and your friends what you are currently consuming. Or how about a lapel pin you wear in public that is bluetoothed to your phone which is being fed data about your energy consumption? Would you dare to go out in public if you were showing "red"? What other ways could we use social power to get people to do the Green things that they otherwise won't get around to doing? Thanks for calling attention to the big investments utilities are making in smart metering. We need to be thinking about how theycan be used to support Green initiatives. As I learned at the recent Next Generation Utilities conference in Austin ( http://www.ngusummit.com/index.asp ) these meters may well be connected to the web via Broadband Over PowerLine and within the house they may support Zigbee. So, utilities are interested because they reduce service calls to the home ( aka “truck rolls” ) by 30% or more, but we should be interested in how they can monitor energy use in a way that people will be made much more aware of what power their devices are using.

Today most people don’t know the power that their devices draw. Most of us don’t know what our computers draw when on full or on standby, unless we have purchased a device like the Kill-A-Watt ( http://p3international.com/products/special/P4400/P4400-CE.html ).

For example, with Zigbee you could likely develop a cheap refrigerator magnet that would be color coded for intenstity of power use. Get kids to monitor it and urge their parents to be greener.

You could imagine other uses of the social network. What about a badge on your Facebook page showing you and your friends what you are currently consuming. Or how about a lapel pin you wear in public that is bluetoothed to your phone which is being fed data about your energy consumption? Would you dare to go out in public if you were showing “red”?

What other ways could we use social power to get people to do the Green things that they otherwise won’t get around to doing?

]]> By: George http://greenmonk.net/energy-demand-management-ii-the-sequel/#comment-3000 George Sat, 26 Apr 2008 19:37:10 +0000 http://greenmonk.net/?p=145#comment-3000 It's always good to see companies working together when it comes to energy demand management. One company I read about the other day, Enernoc (http://www.enernoc.com/index.html), is even paying companies to have them come find greener solutions to their current energy management situations. It’s always good to see companies working together when it comes to energy demand management. One company I read about the other day, Enernoc (http://www.enernoc.com/index.html), is even paying companies to have them come find greener solutions to their current energy management situations.

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