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Alphabet's Nest Wants to Build a 'Citizen-Fueled' Power Plant (bloomberg.com)

Posted by msmash on from the citizen-fueled dept.

Mark Chediak, reporting for Bloomberg:Alphabet Inc's Nest Labs is looking to enlist enough customers in California to free up as much power as a small natural gas-fired plant produces, helping alleviate potential energy shortages in the region following a massive gas leak that has restricted supplies. Nest, which supplies digital, wireless thermostats, is partnering with Edison International's Southern California Edison utility to get households enrolled in a state-established energy conservation program. The company wants to attract 50,000 customers through next summer that could shrink their total demand by as much as 50 megawatts when needed, Ben Bixby, Nest's director of energy businesses at Nest, said by phone. "We are building a citizen-fueled clean power plant," he said.

19 of 157 comments (clear)

  1. Soylent Green by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    is power!

  2. Effecient by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    If you burn the citizens for fuels you make more power, and need less in the future. It's a win-win

    1. Re:Effecient by lgw · · Score: 2

      If you burn the citizens for fuels you make more power, and need less in the future. It's a win-win

      Or perhaps the people will be kept alive and used as a sort of "battery" providing the power to the plant. I can see no flaws in that plan.

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    2. Re:Effecient by bugs2squash · · Score: 2

      On the plus side - obesity is a form of carbon sequestration that is getting more popular.

      --
      Nullius in verba
  3. Uh, no you're not by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "We are building a citizen-fueled clean power plant,"

    Uh, no you're not. You are running an energy saving campaign. You are not creating anything new power here.

    1. Re:Uh, no you're not by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      "We are building a citizen-fueled clean power plant,"

      Uh, no you're not. You are running an energy saving campaign. You are not creating anything new power here.

      Just like rationing food is the same as farming.

  4. They actually want to kick appliances off. by tlambert · · Score: 4, Insightful

    They actually want to kick appliances off. When the load is high, your blender quits working, basically.

    They actually mean "the equivalent of adding a gas-fired power plant by subtracting users who can damn well wait for their smoothies.

    Hopefully no one is stupid enough to buy a Nest dialysis machine...

    1. Re:They actually want to kick appliances off. by b0bby · · Score: 2

      They actually want to kick appliances off. When the load is high, your blender quits working, basically.

      They actually mean "the equivalent of adding a gas-fired power plant by subtracting users who can damn well wait for their smoothies.

      Hopefully no one is stupid enough to buy a Nest dialysis machine...

      These kinds of programs are fairly common, although usually they make you use a special thermostat which can be triggered via radio. When it gets the message on high demand days, it turns your AC off for an hour. I used to do the local program, and usually it meant that 3 or 4 times a year the temperature in the house would go up 5 degrees or so. I thought it was a reasonable way to avoid brownouts or building another gas plant, but I got an ecobee which they don't yet support. If they do, I'll sign back up.

    2. Re:They actually want to kick appliances off. by Rei · · Score: 2, Informative

      I once lived in Iowa when I lived in the US, and my then-spouse signed us up for one of those programs without consulting me first. I just came home one day and the AC was no longer operating when it was hottest. Utterly, utterly miserable, and I had to wait weeks to get the thing disconnected. Why would anyone willingly choose to have one of those things in their home?

      --
      "99 dead duelists of Dios on the wall. 99 dead duelists of Dios! Take one's ring, pass it around..."
    3. Re:They actually want to kick appliances off. by jittles · · Score: 2

      Some people properly insulate their house, ... and also drive a Prius.

      That driving a Prius is pretty effortless isn't a bad thing, though some people seem to take a dislike to people who Do Something like driving a Prius, I'm not sure why.

      Usually because you find them trying to hyper mile in the left hand lane of the interstate/highway going about 30 under the speed limit while they watch their MPG or L/100km gauge instead of the road.

    4. Re:They actually want to kick appliances off. by Rei · · Score: 2

      If you're willing to lose your AC during the hottest part of the day, then you might as well not have AC at all. So there's no reason to get such a device, you might as well just sell your AC.

      "Pre-cooling" a house does not work. In the hottest part of the day it was enough of a challenge for the AC to just keep up.

      --
      "99 dead duelists of Dios on the wall. 99 dead duelists of Dios! Take one's ring, pass it around..."
    5. Re:They actually want to kick appliances off. by WaffleMonster · · Score: 2

      Dial your freezer down an extra 1C. Have a smart plug that switches it off for up to 10 minutes on command, max once per hour. The food won't be affected.

      In one corner we have the modern fridge with variable speed compressor and in the other a "smart plug".... My money is on the "smart plug" because it has the word smart in it.

  5. Re:Less Power For You by I4ko · · Score: 2

    Doing more with less was a Communist slogan. And the main reason communism failed. At one time there was nothing left to do something from.

  6. Better idea... by sycodon · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...Have Alphabet Inc (what a stupid name) turn off the AC at the headquarters in the summer and turn off the heat in the winter. Just circulate the outside air.

    Same for all the other groups who want average consumers to make their lives uncomfortable in the name of...what the fuck ever.

    --
    When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
    1. Re:Better idea... by CaptainLard · · Score: 3, Informative

      Just circulate the outside air.

      That would be called an economizer in HVAC speak. Pretty much every new commercial building has one and they are often retrofitted as part of maintenance and repair to existing buildings. Also those who choose to give up A/C control are paid for it. Such programs are widespread across the country. Good thing that Nest is finally using it's google $Billions and existing user base to implement it though.

  7. logical fallacy by slashmydots · · Score: 2

    I love the stupid pro-eco hipster logic on saving energy. Should 50 million people drastically change how they live to save every little bit of energy and have their lifestyles affected on a daily basis
    OR
    Should someone build a solar/wind/wave/whatever power plant and then 50 million people can do whatever the hell they want. Which one is easier and more reasonable to implement?

  8. 'Citizen fuelled' != 'saving energy' by kheldan · · Score: 2

    Doublespeak! Saying 'this power plant is citizen-fuelled' when all they're doing is forcing people to turn off their heat or air conditioning, is like a advertisement for something 'on sale' saying you're 'saving money': you're not 'saving' anything, you're 'spending less', which is still 'spending money'! It's not a 'citizen fuelled power plant' because 'citizens' are not 'fuelling' anything, they are just being forced to use less of what is already generated. Want to have a 'citizen fuelled power plant'? Put them on treadmills connected to generators in 8 hour shifts. Oh and by the way it'll cost more to feed them than you'll charge per kilowatt hour generated.

    --
    Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
  9. Taking Credit for Saving, Not Generating Energy by eepok · · Score: 2

    What a stupid story. So Nest wants to reduce demand artificially and take credit (carbon credit... financial credit) for doing so. The "power plant" concept comes in their spin saying, "Removing demand is just like increasing supply. Effectively."

  10. Ye olde 'negawatts' concept by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 2

    California has given up on bringing new power generation online, so it turns to the popular Seventies idea of paying people to conserve more. Conservation is fine is a short-term solution to shortage - of anything - but in the long run there is no substitute for generating more power by the cleanest feasible means. If CA continues to be short of water it will have to start desalinating, and just by itself that will require new capacity. Arizona can't supply all of California's power needs.