4 ms·

These events happen faster than you could react to the situation, plus in most cases, will involve small changes that you wouldn't even notice to your most ener

These events happen faster than you could react to the situation, plus in most cases, will involve small changes that you wouldn't even notice to your most energy intensive devices. This isn't about turning off your TV while you're watching it (though, in the alternative which may be a blackout, that IS what would happen). Consider a freezer where you have the thermostat set to -18c. Your freezer will have some tolerance on that, so maybe it kicks on the compressor at -16c and turns it off at -20c. In the event that we've had a sudden loss of generation capacity, the freezer responds to the signal by temporarily setting the the range to -15c / -18c, or to delay the next compressor run for an hour, or some other minor change that you likely won't notice or care about. On the other hand, if you get an SMS asking you to change your freezer's thermostat for the next hour, are you going to go home and do that? Edit: Also doesn't clause 236 part 6 permit us to modify our own devices as we see fit: "Energy smart regulations may not provide for a prohibition to be contravened by an end-user of an appliance (in their capacity as such) or for such a person to be enforced against as described in section 237 or 238."? If it's so important, I'm sure one can figure out how to block the signals.

gustavus 3y ago
You know this reminds me of a point made by C.S. Lewis in his book the abolition of man. He points out that when we say we've conquered nature (or in the modern parlance "made progress") what we have really done is taken power from some men and given it to others. I think your comment perfectly highlights that, essentially the advancement of technology has now allowed the technicians and "experts" to now reach into your home and control how and when you use power arbitrarily at their discretion.
jtbayly 3y ago
I'm not denying there are benefits to being able to control (even more) demand as well as supply. This would make it technically possible to run the whole system more efficiently. You know what I noticed when I had an old house with old AC? It could barely keep up. On really hot days, it didn't. They offered me $5/month off my bill to allow them to turn off my AC remotely up to 15/min/hour. For a lot of people this would be precisely what you said: "small changes that you wouldn't even notice to your most energy intensive devices" In that house, it would have meant the AC would need to be replaced. "Oh yeah, and you're totally allowed to turn this off if you can figure out how, and we'll never charge you with a crime. Good luck!" "Wait! Why are you arresting me?!" "You've been intentionally violating the DMCA!" lol

gustavus 3y ago

You know this reminds me of a point made by C.S. Lewis in his book the abolition of man. He points out that when we say we've conquered nature (or in the modern parlance "made progress") what we have really done is taken power from some men and given it to others. I think your comment perfectly highlights that, essentially the advancement of technology has now allowed the technicians and "experts" to now reach into your home and control how and when you use power arbitrarily at their discretion.

jtbayly 3y ago

I'm not denying there are benefits to being able to control (even more) demand as well as supply. This would make it technically possible to run the whole system more efficiently. You know what I noticed when I had an old house with old AC? It could barely keep up. On really hot days, it didn't. They offered me $5/month off my bill to allow them to turn off my AC remotely up to 15/min/hour. For a lot of people this would be precisely what you said: "small changes that you wouldn't even notice to your most energy intensive devices" In that house, it would have meant the AC would need to be replaced. "Oh yeah, and you're totally allowed to turn this off if you can figure out how, and we'll never charge you with a crime. Good luck!" "Wait! Why are you arresting me?!" "You've been intentionally violating the DMCA!" lol