With the Consumer Electronics Show 2012 in swing this week, I’ve been thinking about energy management technologies for the smart home. Someday when purchasing a new clothes dryer or refrigerator, the question won’t just be “Is this appliance EnergyStar compliant?” it will be “Is this appliance Smart Grid compatible?” As utilities, manufacturers’ organizations and consumer advocacy groups negotiate standards for Smart Grid-compatible home appliances, thermostats, and other intelligent “smart home” systems, we have yet to address the biggest issue driving adoption of smart home technology: consumer demand.
As evidenced by survey after survey, the average electric consumer has little, if any, idea about what the smart grid is. So getting them to take action to push for smart grid technology – whether it’s purchasing an appliance or calling their local representative to support pro-smart grid legislation – is difficult if not impossible.
But we’ve lost sight of an important factor. Even if consumers did understand smart grids, and did want to take advantage of (yet-to-be-broadly- deployed) real-time pricing, could they afford to?
Smart home technology—and smart grid-ready appliances specifically—are essential to helping consumers take advantage of real-time pricing programs. Few consumers will be willing or able to turn on the dishwasher at 3 a.m. when electricity prices are at their lowest. But today, with money tight and so many people up to their ears in mortgages (if not underwater), remodeling the kitchen or purchasing upgraded appliances when the existing ones are working fine isn’t realistic for the average American family. Without a drastic change in energy costs or major government incentives, there’s little financial benefit for families to upgrade to smart grid appliances unless their existing one reaches end of life – and the lifecycle for major household appliances is upwards of 10-20 years, if not longer.
It took the energy crisis of the 1970s and fuel efficiency regulations to get Detroit thinking about smaller, more economical automobiles. Many states did institute “gas guzzler” trade-in programs to get older cars off the road. And some people took advantage of the programs, or purchased newer, smaller automobiles. But the change to fuel efficiency was a combination of government regulation and attrition as older cars made their final trips to the auto wrecker.
Involving the consumer is a major pillar of many smart grid policies and programs. But we should acknowledge that it may be years before consumers are active participants. That doesn’t mean we should give up on the smart grid in the meantime, though. Grid-based technologies—from distribution automation, to outage management information systems, to volt/var optimization solutions—can help us begin realizing many important goals of smart grid programs today, and not at some date in the distant future.
Interesting perspectives! I agree that consumers will want to maintain ultimate control of the operation of their smart grid-ready appliances, thermostat, and other gadgets. They will determine the settings for when these devices operate, not the utility. And because the infrastructure needed to operate these devices will be on the customer side of the meter, consumers will have responsibility to ensure everything is working properly, just like every other device installed in the home.
Data protection is certainly a hot topic as well. I admit that I am skeptical that the capture of electricity consumption data will pose much risk to consumers, but there are people who feel differently. To address these concerns, smart meter “opt out” programs are gaining ground (the California Public Utilities Commission, for instance, just agreed to PG&E”s meter opt-out plan).
Both factors–the reliance on consumers taking action to adjust electricity use, and the fact that some customers will opt out of having an advanced meter installed at their home at all–would seem to indicate that grid-based technology, which offers utilities more control, will be essential to reduce peak demand as well as energy costs.
Thank you for reading!
Current smart appliance technology is being developed by many of the same companies responsible for “Smart Home” systems… most of who use some sort of firewalled or protected technology or rely on tried and true communications protocols like X10… which are no more hackable than your average WPA2 enabled wifi connection…. And are widely used by the home security industry here in the US.
I think the smart appliance revolution will come more from users being able to monitor energy prices… and set their appliances to run when prices are low… rather than give up complete control of their dishwasher and coffee maker to their electrical utility. I for one… would bite of the hand of anyone who tried to turn off my coffee maker in the morning!
The only time I could see utility controlled smart appliances allowing direct control by the utility… would be allowing utilities to raise or lower a customer’s thermostat settings in response to peak demands caused by extreme weather. In some large industrial applications… utilities already do this… and allow the customer a break on their bill for the inconvenience of having their thermostat turned up in the middle of a heat wave. But I do see the security concerns… and wonder what the eventual industry standards will be for smart grid connected home appliances.
What rarely is considered in those grid-based technology advertisings is the additional dependencies and – of course – data protection.
What if a grid-controlled technology failes? The net might not be available or the provider is inactive by any means or whatever. Could you effort to miss the function of the controlled appliance, maybe for an unknown period? You might probably not need that appliance at all than…
And if literally anybody in world can or could review your homes power consumption, he might be able to determine when to break in or whatever. Not to think about that it is possible to detect what movie or tv channel is being watched.
Or what if controlled devices are misleaded…
I think these points have to be considered as well and answers must be provided…
Greetings from Germany!
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Uwe