Project Journal

Smart Meters are Coming!
by Robert Fortunato on May 8th, 2010 3 Comments

As a direct result of Congresswoman Harman’s briefing at our house in October, Scott Gobble and the rest of the Edison team mobilized to make Hermosa Beach a beta site for Smart Meters!


Tags: , , , ,


 

3 Responses to “Smart Meters are Coming!”

  1. wendy ficklin says:

    We got the letter too! Thanks for spearheading this effort, conservation is key.

  2. brett says:

    Does this mean you’ll have access to real time energy usage online?

    • Robert says:

      Knowledge is Power (savings that is)
      The smart meter benefits will be coming out in stages; but the first stage is creating awareness of how much we consume in real time.

      There is a pdf that explains the technology: http://www.sce.com/NR/rdonlyres/F5D13577-EF91-41CC-9C86-290993F3132E/0/080710_SmartConnectOverview.pdf

      The essence of it is below:

      The Edison SmartConnect system will allow customers with communicating, energy-smart thermostats and appliances to automatically respond during critical peak pricing and grid reliability events. This will reduce the overall peak power consumption by an estimated 1,000 megawatts — the entire output of a major power plant. SCE’s new meters will also be able to “talk” through home area networks, providing customers with near real-time energy use and cost information to enable energy conservation.

      The Edison SmartConnect system has the ability to provide the information from the meter into the home through a two-way wireless interface allowing customers to immediately see how their actions affect usage. The result is expected to increase sustained energy conservation that will reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and smog-forming pollutants by a minimum of 365,000 metric tons per year — the equivalent of removing 79,000 cars from the road. The system will make remote service activations possible, enabling the approximate 1 million SCE customers who relocate each year to activate service on demand. It will also support widespread adoption of solar installations, plug in hybrid vehicles, energy storage, and other clean technologies that will drive greater environmental benefits.

Leave a Reply

*