As a person who lives in a somewhat automated house, the key to successful automation is to make things a) truly automatic, b) understandable, and c) don't try to optimize so much that people feel the need to frequently override the automation. From an energy management perspective quantity automation like thermostats is fairly easy. The time shifting automation mostly isn't, at least without a battery system.
Another personal anecdote: the easiest way to manage energy demand is to have a passively energy efficient house. We moved from an 1890s home last updated just after the start of the 21st century (not much attention paid to efficiency) to one built in 2017. The new house is about 25% larger. The electricity costs are about the same. Modern construction energy efficiency is amazing. ComEd's calculator estimated that total costs for the time of day pricing would be almost exactly the same as the fixed rate plan (as of mid-2022).
When we moved the old house wasn't quite a tear-down candidate and also wasn't quite a gut rehab candidate. Would "we" be better off to apply a larger discount to older housing stock? IMO yes for reasons that include but are not exclusively efficiency related. I realize that's just me.
One typo: "By connecting to the internet and leveraging sensors, weather forecasts, and user preferences, these devices CAM optimize energy use based on occupancy patterns...." I think that should be "can".
In The Grid (2016), Gretchen Bakke noted the failure of prior efforts by Xcel (I think) to promote the automated house. Bakke theorized that optimizing electricity efficiency is simply too far down the list of priorities for all but the most dedicated residential consumer to care about. Of course, today there are more smart appliances, and more opportunities to hook things up to internet signals. But I'm one of those guys who has never read a manual for one of his vehicles, so I remain skeptical about our ability to really motivate residential consumers to focus much attention on such matters.
As a person who lives in a somewhat automated house, the key to successful automation is to make things a) truly automatic, b) understandable, and c) don't try to optimize so much that people feel the need to frequently override the automation. From an energy management perspective quantity automation like thermostats is fairly easy. The time shifting automation mostly isn't, at least without a battery system.
Another personal anecdote: the easiest way to manage energy demand is to have a passively energy efficient house. We moved from an 1890s home last updated just after the start of the 21st century (not much attention paid to efficiency) to one built in 2017. The new house is about 25% larger. The electricity costs are about the same. Modern construction energy efficiency is amazing. ComEd's calculator estimated that total costs for the time of day pricing would be almost exactly the same as the fixed rate plan (as of mid-2022).
When we moved the old house wasn't quite a tear-down candidate and also wasn't quite a gut rehab candidate. Would "we" be better off to apply a larger discount to older housing stock? IMO yes for reasons that include but are not exclusively efficiency related. I realize that's just me.
One typo: "By connecting to the internet and leveraging sensors, weather forecasts, and user preferences, these devices CAM optimize energy use based on occupancy patterns...." I think that should be "can".
Feel free to delete this post.
Thoughtful; thank you.
In The Grid (2016), Gretchen Bakke noted the failure of prior efforts by Xcel (I think) to promote the automated house. Bakke theorized that optimizing electricity efficiency is simply too far down the list of priorities for all but the most dedicated residential consumer to care about. Of course, today there are more smart appliances, and more opportunities to hook things up to internet signals. But I'm one of those guys who has never read a manual for one of his vehicles, so I remain skeptical about our ability to really motivate residential consumers to focus much attention on such matters.
Just an editorial note.
Thanks. Now I understand why State Grid has one of the world's top ten AI labs.