[LINK] NBN Smart Off Peak Appliances Needed

Tom Worthington tom.worthington at tomw.net.au
Sun Aug 12 09:19:28 AEST 2012


The Resources and Energy Minister, Martin Ferguson, is reported to have 
proposed households receive discounts on their electricity bills for 
reducing consumption during annual peaks ("Low-energy households should 
be rewarded", AAP, Trading Room, August 10 2012, 6:10PM): 
http://www.tradingroom.com.au/apps/view_breaking_news_article.ac?page=/data/news_research/published/2012/8/223/catf_120810_181000_0600.html

He pointed out that 25% of the retail power cost was to cover 40 hours 
of peak use a year. Giving consumers an incentive to reduce use during 
those 40 hours would reduce the need for infrastructure which remains 
idle the rest of the time.

Giving consumers an incentive to manually switch off to save money has 
not worked in the past and there is no reason to think it will work now. 
What has worked is a discount for appliances which automatically switch 
off at peak times (called "demand response"). Off peak hot water systems 
have been in use for decades. I suggest this technique be applied to air 
conditioners and space heaters.

I suggest that large energy consuming "dumb" air conditioners and 
heaters be banned, under existing legislation which regulates the 
importation and sale of electrical devices. Air conditioners and heaters 
would be required to have a low power mode which can be switched on 
remotely at times of peak demand, with no action required by the consumer.

Such a ban would not effect the sale of small air conditioners and 
heaters which plug into an ordinary power point, only larger units which 
have to be directly wired into the household electricity supply. The 
large units would not switch off completely during peak periods, but go 
a low power setting where they consume only as much power as a plug-in 
unit (2400 Watt). The fans of the air conditioner/heater would continue 
to operate for the few minutes it was in low power mode and it is likely 
that the householder would not notice the difference. In a prolonged 
peak, a smart unit could be programmed to direct all the cooling or 
heating to one priority room of the house.

With old off peak systems, the signal to hot water systems was sent out 
over the power lines. For a modern system the Internet could be used. 
This need not use the NBN, but the Government might find it useful to 
promote the NBN as an energy saving tool.

More at: 
http://blog.tomw.net.au/2012/08/smart-off-peak-appliances-needed.html


-- 
Tom Worthington FACS CP, TomW Communications Pty Ltd. t: 0419496150
PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617, Australia  http://www.tomw.net.au
Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards
Legislation

Adjunct Lecturer, Research School of Computer Science,
Australian National University http://cs.anu.edu.au/courses/COMP7310/



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