Study: Smart meters alone not enough to save
By ALEX DOMINGUEZ (AP) – 18 hours ago
BALTIMORE — Smart meters alone are not enough to save energy and money, a new study finds.
Significant savings are possible, however, and consumers save more when given information tailored to their use. Programs that focus on energy efficiency and conservation also produced more savings than those that sought to move energy use to off-peak hours.
Those are some of the findings of a review of 57 studies conducted over three decades for the Washington-based American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.
Smart meters are part of efforts to develop a smart grid that allows communication between power producers, transmitters and end users, enabling conservation and savings when consumers, for example, know how much power costs at different times of the day, and producers can respond better to outages and increases in demand.
Most take advantage of the Internet and other advances in computer and communication technology.
ACEEE Executive Director Steven Nadel said the key is not only the ability to communicate, but what is communicated.
"The more useful, readily understandable and actionable information you can provide, the better," Nadel said. "You don't just want to inundate consumers."
While the most widely used programs are called enhanced billing — in which information on power pricing is provided in monthly bills or separate mailings — devices are being developed to provide consumers with more timely information, including desktop orbs that glow different colors during peak and off-peak times, and web portals.
"One of the nice things about the orb is it's a very simple color, you don't have to get out your calculator and say 'So, what does this information mean?' You know green is good and...
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