For grid-aware appliances to deliver on the promises of the smart grid, electricity rates needs to be overhauled, according to appliance makers.
The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM) on Monday released a white paper (click for PDF) outlining what it called the requirements for smart grid acceptance. The release of the paper was timed for the same week that international climate negotiations are going on in Copenhagen.
Smart grid technology, including so-called smart appliances, have the ability to help consumers cut their electricity use and shave their utility bills--but only if three pieces fall into place, according to AHAM. Those include time-of-use electricity rates, open communications standards, and products that let consumers retain full control of their home appliances.
Utilities around the world are installing two-way meters that can send information back and forth between customers and utilities. That data can be used in a number of ways, including real-time energy monitoring and dialing down electricity use at peak times.
But already there are complaints surfacing that consumers aren't getting the benefits of those more capable and more expensive smart meters.
AHAM says that time-of-use pricing is required to motivate consumers to run energy-intensive tasks, such as running a load of laundry or the dishwasher, at off-peak times. "It must be recognized that existing residential tariffs and rate structures do not provide sufficient economic incentive to spur maximum consumer participation in the use of smart grid technologies," the industry association said in its paper.
The reasoning behind time-of-use electricity pricing is to reflect cost of power to utilities, which varies depending on the time and demand.
GE, Whirlpool, and other appliance makers plan to make appliances that can receive signals from a smart meter on changing electricity prices. On a hot summer day when air conditioners are maxing out the grid's capacity, a dishwasher, for example, could go into energy-saving mode and take longer to finish its job. GE on Monday said it will introduce a line of "smart-grid enabled" washers and dryers in 2012.
However, many states charge for electricity at the same rate at all times, so consumers have little financial incentive to run loads at off-peak times or purchase appliances that can respond to demand response signals from smart meters.
In addition, AHAM calls for a "rapid drive towards open standards" for in-home communications. The National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) is overseeing an effort to codify a number of smart-grid related standards.
But in the area of home networks, disputes among appliance companies is slowing down the process, according to George Arnold, the national coordinator for smart-grid interoperability at NIST.
Finally, AHAM said that privacy and security need to be assured for consumer acceptance. "Projects should emphasize the consumer as the decision maker as opposed to scenarios where the utility possesses absolute control over the consumer's appliances and devices," it said.
Updated at 2:15 p.m. PT with GE's production plans for washers and dryers.
Correction at 2:33 a.m. PDT November 12: This story incorrectly stated the name of the wireless communications technology used by AlertMe. The system uses ZigBee.
The Wi-Fi Alliance has formed a task group to determine what standards need to be modified to ensure Wi-Fi is the tool of choice for smart-grid applications.
The nonprofit industry association that approves devices for the Wi-Fi Certified seal released a report Wednesday called "Wi-Fi for the Smart Grid: Mature, Interoperable, Security-Protected Technology for Advanced Utility Management Communications." The report expounds on all the possibilities for Wi-Fi as a communication tool for smart appliances, home area networks, neighborhood networks, and wide area networks integrating with smart grids. It also details how the standards being set by the U.S. Department of Energy for smart grids might affect Internet Protocol standards for Wi-Fi.
Wi-Fi seems like an obvious choice for electronics and appliances communicating with a wireless, smart grid-integrated system. The low-power, short-range data transmission method is already the dominant standard for digital communications among computers and electronics in wireless home and neighborhood networks.
Both GE and Whirlpool have said they are close to bringing smart appliances to the consumer market. But Whirlpool has said it's still waiting for an "open, global standard for transmitting signals to, and receiving signals from, a home appliance."
Google PowerMeter has already partnered with AlertMe in the U.K. on a do-it-yourself smart-appliance integration system for homes that bypasses the need for a smart meter and it relies on ZigBee not Wi-Fi. AlertMe relays information between a wireless hub that plugs into a home's broadband connection, smart plugs used by appliances throughout the house, and an electric meter monitor. It allows users to observe and regulate electricity use of their home appliances from anywhere in the world via Google's Web-accessible PowerMeter platform.
"Wi-Fi networks can be deployed to meet the Smart Grid requirements for robustness, manageability, performance, and security," according to the report.
But from the contents of the report, the Wi-Fi cognoscente also seem to realize that Wi-Fi device manufacturers will need to step it up if they want to provide the standard for smart-grid-related communications.
Dropped or insecure connections between a laptop and wireless network is one thing. But once Wi-Fi communications can affect appliances and electricity use, device irregularities or shortfalls in cybersecurity won't be tolerated by the U.S. government or consumers.
Appliance manufacturer Whirlpool has received $19.3 million in U.S. Department of Energy funding as part of its Smart Grid Investment Grant program, the company announced Thursday.
Whirlpool, which markets appliances under the brand names Whirlpool, Maytag, KitchenAid, Jenn-Air, Amana, Brastemp, Consul, and Bauknecht, joins General Electric in what seems to be a quest for designing the most well-behaved appliances.
The Whirlpool Duet washer and dryer is part of the company's 2009 line of eco-efficient laundry appliances. With Department of Energy funds, it plans to have a million smart-grid-compliant dryers ready for sale by 2011.
(Credit: Whirlpool)Similar to GE's smart-appliance ambitions, Whirlpool plans to develop home appliances that can connect and communicate with municipal smart grids. The machines will be able to receive signals from a smart grid, letting it know of off-peak hours, a good time to turn on and run.
Whirlpool, which will get its funding over a two-year period, plans to match the funds in order to have a million smart-grid-compatible dryers available for public purchase by 2011. The smart dryers will be manufactured in the United States, and the company estimates that the dryers could save consumers $20 to $40 per year in energy savings.
In addition to the smart dryers, Whirlpool has pledged that by 2015, it will discontinue making appliances sans the ability to communicate with smart grids. It will no longer make "dumb" appliances at all.
That promise, however, is dependent on a few things happening.
"This commitment is dependent on two important public-private partnerships: the development by the end of 2010 of an open, global standard for transmitting signals to, and receiving signals from, a home appliance; and appropriate policies that reward consumers, manufacturers, and utilities for using and adding these new peak-demand reduction capabilities," Whirlpool said in a statement.
Whirlpool's announcement follows President Obama's release this week of plans to overhaul the country's electrical grid to turn it into a smart-grid system. An estimated $8.1 billion is planned to be spent on 100 smart-grid projects in 49 states. Utilities themselves will kick in $4.7 billion, while the remaining $3.4 billion will come from the U.S. government as stimulus money.
Abu Dhabi's planned green community, Masdar City, will be testing General Electric's smart appliances in a handful of residences and coordinating them with its power grid, GE said Monday.
GE's Consumer & Industrial division announced in October 2008 that it was developing home appliances that could ease the strain on electrical grids by coordinating with a grid's off-peak hours to perform flexible functions.
A refrigerator equipped with a "smart" meter, for example, communicates with the local power utility. That refrigerator then waits to run its automatic defrost cycle until it has received a signal from the electrical grid that it's an off-peak period.
A smart meter on a refrigerator at GE's labs.
(Credit: Martin LaMonica/CNET)Masdar City is under construction in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. It aims to be the first carbon-neutral and zero-waste city. It's also home to the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology. The post-graduate research center, a collaborator with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, began offering courses and research facilities in alternative energy and sustainable technology for graduate students in September.
The two-year pilot project with GE appliances will include refrigerators, stoves, and European-style washer/dryer machines that run on 220volt/50HZ platforms and will be installed in 10 residences.
The installation, to be completed in early 2010, will include a communication system between the appliances and Masdar City's utility grid that will allow the appliances to transmit real-time data and run nonessential functions during off-peak usage hours. Since Masdar City is not scheduled to be fully inhabited until 2013, the city's grid will simulate peak usage strains in order to test the system.
Previously, GE began testing its smart appliances in select homes in Louisville, Ky., in conjunction with the Louisville Gas and Electric Company.
Now that you've dumped your gas-guzzling pick-up, maybe it's time to move that old fridge from the garage.
The Department of Energy is sponsoring a $300 million program, funded by the economic stimulus plan, that will let consumers get a rebate on an EnergyStar-rated appliance. It's modeled roughly like the Cash for Clunkers program, which is now ending, although trading in older home equipment isn't required.
The Energy Department has begun awarding funding for individual states. Maryland is getting a $5.4 million slice and will run the program through the Maryland Energy Administration, according to an article on Wednesday in the Baltimore Sun. Pennsylvania has also applied and is expected to receive $12 million, according to a report in the Reading Eagle.
The program will be designed by individual states and U.S. territories, all of which are expected to participate. The rebates themselves could be administered directly by states, utilities, or some other third party, a Department of Energy representative said on Thursday.
States have flexibility to determine what will be covered but the Energy Department has suggested home goods that consume the most energy, including: air conditioners, washing machines, dryers, heating equipment, and refrigerators and freezers.
The final funding applications are due back to the Energy Department by the middle of October, which means that the rebates could be available later this year or early next year.
Utilities around the country already offer rebate programs for moving to more efficient home equipment. An often-cited example is the California Energy Commission which has set strict efficiency standards for refrigerators and other equipment, which has helped keep per capita electricity consumption nearly steady since the 1970s.
Already in place is an Energy Department program which will give homeowners a 30 percent tax credit up to $1,500 for energy-efficient equipment upgrades.
(Credit:
KitchAnn Style)
Going "green" is a huge movement, with companies around the world releasing products that have less and less of an environmental impact--or, at least, that's what they want us to believe. As consumers' interest in eco-friendly products gets higher, so does the temptation to embellish a product's green credentials.
According to The Mainichi Daily News, Hitachi Appliances, a subsidiary of Hitachi and currently Japan's biggest refrigerator maker, seems to be the first company to have fallen for the temptation to claim a product is green when it isn't.
Of nine refrigerator models the company released between September and November of last year, including the "Eiyo Ikiiki Shinku Chirudo V" and the "Big & Slim 60", six are not eco-friendly at all and the other three are far from the level of eco-friendliness the company advertised them to be.
... Read more
The Maui Electric Company and General Electric are joining up to test a unique smart-grid technology on the Hawaiian island's electrical grid.
The Maui, Hawaii, project includes the usual smart-grid tech: developing a substation with battery storage capability to remove and store excess electricity generated from connected wind and solar energy sources. The electricity supply is then released from the substation to the main power grid when it's needed during peak usage times.
Many companies are interested in smart-grid energy technology. Google wants users to confront their home energy use appliance by appliance. IBM is jockeying to be a key supplier for smart-grid tech to utilities. Venture capitalists are investing in smart-grid start-ups.
What's interesting about the Maui Smart Grid project is that it's enlisting regular people to allow their appliances to participate in an electrical grid experiment.
General Electric released news of its Maui Smart Grid project via its employee-authored research blog, From Edison's Desk, on Wednesday.
"For example, consumers may 'opt in' to utility programs that automatically adjust high energy consuming devices, such as water heaters, during periods of peak demand and higher electricity prices," Devon Manz, an energy systems engineer and the project manager for General Electric's Maui Smart Grid, wrote in his blog.
The goal of the project is to see if regulating consumer energy demand can be used to deal with the fluctuations in energy production from renewable resources, according to Manz.
The work will help "GE identify the most relevant technologies for enabling significant penetrations of wind and solar power around the world," he wrote.
Clearly, it's an area the company is truly interested in.
GE's Consumer and Industrial division has already been experimenting with "smart appliances" used by Kentucky residents. The appliances wait for a signal from the power grid that it's a good off-peak time to run non-essential systems.
Did you know there's some leeway on when a refrigerator must run its automatic defrost cycle?
Well, apparently, there is, and it could help ease the stress on local energy grids during peak hours, according to GE Consumer & Industrial.
Currently, GE refrigerators' automatic defrost modes are prompted by factors like door openings. But, the company says, it could build refrigerators that delay that cycle until a local electrical grid signals it's a good off-peak time to suck down more electricity.
Refrigerators are not the only appliances that could be programmed to wait for convenient times to run.
GE is testing a whole range of what it calls "Energy Management-Enabled Appliances" with the Louisville Gas and Electric Co. in Louisville, Ky., the company announced Wednesday. It includes ranges, washers and dryers, dishwashers, and microwaves.
The appliances are equipped with a "Smart Meter" that communicates with the local power utility, and then times itself to run during off-peak periods. Consumers are still given a choice to override the program if they want to use a particular appliance during peak hours.
The program seeks to address the nationwide problem of peak energy demand, in which electrical grids are overburdened by a consumer surge in use. It's a problem power utilities are concerned about given the rise in electric plug-in vehicles.
GE estimates that there are currently about 3,000 utilities in the U.S. Many of them are considering their energy storage options, and some are considering moving to a tiered-pricing system to encourage off-peak electricity usage. Appliances that help consumers avoid peak hours could help them save money, according to GE.
But there's a catch. In order for the appliances to work, the electrical grid they operate on must communicate with the machine's "Smart Meter."
That means utilities would have to be onboard with a standardized system that allows household appliances to communicate with their grids.
Clothes dryers are the second biggest hog of household energy, according to the Department of Energy. Most are so similar in terms of power hunger that the Energy Star label of efficient appliances doesn't even mark dryers.
By this fall, however, consumers could enjoy faster, greener, and safer clothes dryers that draw half the power of conventional models, according to Hydromatic Technologies Corporation.
With the Dryer Miser installed, the dryer on the right demands less energy.
(Credit: Hydromatic Technologies Corporation)Its Dryer Miser technology would dry garments 41 percent more quickly without shrinking as much or stinking them up with the odor of burnt lint, said Michael Brown, the inventor and company president.
He plans to sell the Dryer Miser in the fall as a $300 retrofit kit that he says could be added to existing dryers in 20 minutes by a technician. Up to 40 percent of dryers from Whirlpool, the top brand in the market, as well as others, could be converted.
The company is also working with a large European appliance manufacturer to integrate the technology into a scratch-built dryer model.
The Dryer Miser is installed on the dryer to the left.
(Credit: Hydromatic Technologies Corporation)Liquid is the key ingredient to drying clothes more quickly, according to Brown.
"We used NASA and MIT engineers to prove the technology is an oxymoron and (that) I'm not a moron," said Brown.
His copper and aluminum system heats a fluid, which mixes with air that is then blown hot into the clothing drum. Each unit would use about three cups of a nontoxic, hydrocarbon-based oil. Unlike natural gas dryers, no carbon dioxide would be produced.
Nor would the noncombustible system, which could be plugged into 110-volt outlets, create a fire hazard, Brown said. Conventional dryers may reach 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit in order to raise the tumbler temperature up to 155 degrees. They are blamed for 15,000 household fires counted each year by the Consumer Safety Product Commission.
The Dryer Miser also would be more effective than relatively efficient heat pump or condensing dryers in Europe and Asia, according to Brown. In those markets, dryers are about half the size as those in the United States.
Brown, a heating and air conditioning technician, invented the device in 2004 in his garage in Kissimmee, Fla. He got the idea from working with boilers. So far he says he has raised $3 million privately and has turned down offers of up to $100 million from venture capitalists.
He hopes his work will lead to the first Energy Star-rated clothes dryers. To that end, Brown plans to submit a rule-making request to the Department of Energy. Energy Star recently raised its energy efficiency requirements for clothes washers.
Brown is also working on an off-grid, solar-powered dryer that would draw power in the daytime from rooftop photovoltaic panels.
The Dryer Miser kit is being demonstrated this week at the International Builders' Show in Orlando. A state utility there has expressed interest in offering rebates for customers who use the system.
Utilities elsewhere are exploring smart meters and networking tools to help people conserve energy. CenterPoint Energy in Texas, for one, is testing a Zigbee networking module that would turn off dryers during peak load times.
Refrigerators and dryers are the hungriest of all household appliances, which make up one-fifth of energy consumption, according to the government's Energy Information Administration. A washer and dryer are found in 9 of 10 single-family American homes.
On a related note, a movement is afoot among green-leaning consumers who are ditching dryers in favor of the clothesline. Members of Project Laundry List assemble online to fight for the right to dry clothes outside without the interference of local NIMBY laws.
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