I agree with you with regard to flying "Western" carriers. The few times I have flown on a Korean or Japanese airline 747 (to keep this on topic) it has been completely different. They actually treat you like you paid for the flight, and that it is their job to try to make you happy. A complete 180 from "Sit down and shut up"-Continental.
You hit on a good point, but I think there is one factor you missed that may help these types of functions become ubiquitous: your electric meter. What is happening in the US and from what I can see in part of the EU, is that low-bandwidth network protocols are being implemented in the new meters which will allow your thermostat to see signals from your meter. What is being developed by the appliance manufacturers are controls for washers and dryers that can also respond to these signals and thereby give it the option of running when the price of electricity drops to a certain level. Most of these meter deployments (see map here) should be rolling out in the next few years. After that, the appliance manufacturers should follow with new functionality once the communications standards become more standard.
As for the standards themselves, I can only speak with certainty for the U.S. (but I know this technology is being used in the EU) when I say that there are standards being developed like the Smart Energy Profile being proposed by the ZigBee-Homeplug alliance ( not mentioned in TFA). From what I can see, this will allow for a relatively inexpensive chip to integrated into the appliance. Although they have devices that work at the mains plug, it is better not to cut power to the device completely if at all possible.
Actually, yes people are using more electricity per capita, at least here in the US. A big-screen LCD/Plasma TV uses quite a bit of juice. (A friends 55" uses about 420W, vs my ~30" CRT uses about 65) Also, more homes have more PC's and game consoles running. Those all add up. Plus, more people have A/C's for their homes, which are the main target of the load balancing initiatives.
Sure, the devices are more efficient, but people are using more of them. A good example of this is Detroit. Even though their population is declining, their electricity usage is still going up about 2% a year.
Actually, the scalability is the problem right now. If you are a muni, then sure, you can get the meters and the corresponding backhaul for one city from one vendor. The scalability issue comes in when a bigger utility like SCE or PG&E need 1M-5M of these meters to create a homogenous environment. None of the vendors, even the big ones like Itron, can produce that many yet. So we wait while the vendors ramp up production. Meanwhile all of the mid-sized US utilities are starting their AMI projects, and Europe is ramping up with these things too straining the supply as well.
Population density also matters. Again, if you want a homogenous environment, and you cover a rural area, it is going to cost you.
If you are curious, here is a Google Map thingy someone developed to track all of the Smart Metering project going on out there.
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It sounds like you are working the Ballmer curve!
I agree with you with regard to flying "Western" carriers. The few times I have flown on a Korean or Japanese airline 747 (to keep this on topic) it has been completely different. They actually treat you like you paid for the flight, and that it is their job to try to make you happy. A complete 180 from "Sit down and shut up"-Continental.
You hit on a good point, but I think there is one factor you missed that may help these types of functions become ubiquitous: your electric meter. What is happening in the US and from what I can see in part of the EU, is that low-bandwidth network protocols are being implemented in the new meters which will allow your thermostat to see signals from your meter. What is being developed by the appliance manufacturers are controls for washers and dryers that can also respond to these signals and thereby give it the option of running when the price of electricity drops to a certain level. Most of these meter deployments (see map here) should be rolling out in the next few years. After that, the appliance manufacturers should follow with new functionality once the communications standards become more standard.
As for the standards themselves, I can only speak with certainty for the U.S. (but I know this technology is being used in the EU) when I say that there are standards being developed like the Smart Energy Profile being proposed by the ZigBee-Homeplug alliance ( not mentioned in TFA). From what I can see, this will allow for a relatively inexpensive chip to integrated into the appliance. Although they have devices that work at the mains plug, it is better not to cut power to the device completely if at all possible.
This isn't going to be the next Chuck Norris meme is it?
Ray Kurzwiel doesn't walk on water, he swims on land...
Technically, no. Bos Taurus (European cattle) and Bos Indicus ("indian" cattle) being different species can produce fertile offspring.
Try again.
Deal, but if we take Quebec, you have to take Detroit.
I think that is only fair.
Actually, yes people are using more electricity per capita, at least here in the US. A big-screen LCD/Plasma TV uses quite a bit of juice. (A friends 55" uses about 420W, vs my ~30" CRT uses about 65) Also, more homes have more PC's and game consoles running. Those all add up. Plus, more people have A/C's for their homes, which are the main target of the load balancing initiatives.
Sure, the devices are more efficient, but people are using more of them. A good example of this is Detroit. Even though their population is declining, their electricity usage is still going up about 2% a year.
Actually, the scalability is the problem right now. If you are a muni, then sure, you can get the meters and the corresponding backhaul for one city from one vendor. The scalability issue comes in when a bigger utility like SCE or PG&E need 1M-5M of these meters to create a homogenous environment. None of the vendors, even the big ones like Itron, can produce that many yet. So we wait while the vendors ramp up production. Meanwhile all of the mid-sized US utilities are starting their AMI projects, and Europe is ramping up with these things too straining the supply as well.
Population density also matters. Again, if you want a homogenous environment, and you cover a rural area, it is going to cost you.
If you are curious, here is a Google Map thingy someone developed to track all of the Smart Metering project going on out there.