Smart electricity meters have also been designed to
communicate with an in-home system to monitor and regulate
the energy consumption of appliances and air conditioning.
The information would allow the homeowner to determine times
of peak usage and either manually or electronically, in the
case of smart devices, to manage appliances or to adjust
thermostats remotely. The consumer-oriented portion of the
smart technology is largely under development with limited
offerings currently available.
Most of the benefits so far have been on the utility side of
the electric grid. By monitoring usage patterns the
utilities can more adequately plan for peaks and valleys in
demand. For example in North Texas, with the largest
installed base of smart meters, utilities were able to warn
consumers about potential blackouts last summer based on
lack of capacity during the hot summer months. The utilities
warned that consumption needed to be cut between the hours
of 3 PM and 7 PM. With most commercial and industrial users
complying blackouts were avoided.
The issues of
smart meter security and RF emissions seem to have been
largely overblown. Information is transferred over an
encrypted network. And with the daily transmission of
information taking less than a minute, the RF emissions
total about 1/1,000th of the emissions from the daily use of
cell phones. Perhaps the biggest obstacle is the fear that
Big Brother is watching us, collecting data which can be
used against us (ie pricing electricity at higher rates
during peak demand). The reality is that peak-demand pricing
will likely be upon us in any event.
The real benefit to consumers will be the development of a
low-cost monitoring system for home use. That way both sides
of the meter can use the information to lower energy costs.
Try any
Q-Link or
cell chip
for 3 months, absolutely
RISK-FREE If you do not feel Q-Link improves your
focus, energy, or well-being, simply return it for a full
refund.
Airtube headsets have
30 a day refund.
