Smart power usage could save $120 billion
Microprocessor power used to save
money.
Technology to help Americans reduce electricity use when the grid is stressed could help utilities save $120 billion on spending for new power plants and transmission lines, government officials and researchers said on Wednesday after a study in the Pacific Northwest.
A year-long “smart grid” study showed consumers saved 10 percent on power bills and cut power use 15 percent during key peak hours, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory announced.
The small-scale GridWise Demonstration Project [.pdf] involved 112 homeowners on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington. Ron Ambrosio of IBM, which participated in the study, said nationwide use of the method could save $120 billion in power plants and transmission lines that won’t have to be built…
In five years, the type of smart system used in the GridWise study will be available in 10 to 15 percent of U.S. homes, Ambrosio predicted, and in 10 to 15 years in half the country.
Once the cost of installing such systems at homes dips to $200, it will become almost universal. Ambrosio estimated that the cost is now $500, and falling.
$200 for a 10% savings in electricity costs is something any consumer can understand. That allows for a pretty quick payback on the technology.
Posted: Thu - January 10, 2008 at 07:32 AM