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Problem is: how are you going to convince great numbers of people to alter their daily routine that might also be quite synchronized across a country's populati

by ephbit 5y ago

Problem is: how are you going to convince great numbers of people to alter their daily routine that might also be quite synchronized across a country's population? Like tea time in the UK where apparently millions of people turn on their kettles (2 kilowatts each) in synchrony to get some hot water. What if they also like to cook something with their stove (another 2 KW) to get a nice dinner, around the same time?

nullc 5y ago
He told you: Dynamic rates and appliances that let you adjust their behavior based on rates. Have people pay based on the demand and the most able to alter their usage will do so. I'm skeptical-- but probably for different reasons that you. W/ PG&E and MCE the utility can't even manage to tell me my current rate-- determining from my bills requires solving a linear system in three unknowns, requiring three bills. And the rates change quarterly, so I can only determine the rates at the moment they no longer apply. The rate scheme also has various non-linearities such that my total rate depends on my overall usage over the year and as a result my true marginal rate is unknowable at any given time. I dunno how rates are supposed to incentivize behavior when they're so opaque. So I like to imagine a future with smart electrical panels and appliances where their behavior can be rate shaped in realtime, ... but then I encounter the actual behavior of the PUC and utilities and a future with demand shaped by economics seems distant indeed.