Analog

California utilities would control the temperature of new homes and commercial buildings in emergencies with a radio-controlled thermostat, under a proposed state update to building energy efficiency standards.

Customers could not override the thermostats during "emergency events," according to the proposal, part of a 236-page revision to building standards. The document is scheduled to be considered by the California Energy Commission, a state agency, on Jan. 30.

The description does not provide any exception for health or safety concerns. It also does not define what are "emergency events."

During heat waves, customers crank up the air conditioning, putting severe strains on the state's power supply. By giving utilities the power to automatically adjust power demand by reducing air conditioning, the hope is that more severe interruptions, such as rolling blackouts, can be avoided.

However, both the Utility Consumers Action Network, a consumer rights group, and the Riverside County Chapter of the Building Industry Association said customers should be allowed to override the thermostat.

State and utility spokespersons said utilities will provide health and safety exemptions, although that is not specified in the document. Imminent threats of blackouts would qualify as emergency events, they said. Final adoption of the revised standards is scheduled by April 2009.

The document, available at http://tinyurl.com/225htc, outlines the mandatory use of Programmable Communicating Thermostats on page 64:

"Upon receiving an emergency signal, the PCT shall respond to commands contained in the emergency signal, including changing the set-point by any number of degrees or to a specific temperature set-point. The PCT shall not allow customer changes to thermostat settings during emergency events."

The PCT specifications require them to include a "non-removable Radio Data System device that is compatible with the default statewide DR (Demand Response) communications system, which can be used by utilities to send price and emergency signals."
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008...2_261_7_08.txt

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Brian Hoskins

Smacks of Big Brother, doesn't it? It also gives the impression that people can't be trusted to act responsibly with their heating controls so Big Brother wants to take that control away from them.

I don't like it.

Brian

Nigel Goodwin

You're OK - Wales isn't part of California!

And I think they are unlikely to annex you?

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Brian Hoskins

Wales isn't advanced enough to have stuff like that

Brian

Nigel Goodwin

Perhaps they could put a radio controlled lock on your coal scuttle?

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justDIY

they should just force huge retail venues to close down during "emergencies" ... the industrial capacity chillers at walmart consume enough energy to run 100 residential sized units.

shopping malls are even worse!

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Leftyretro

Well being from Cal, the proposal does not surprise me. However when I think about it having an electrical system that could intelligently load shed during emergency situations would be better then the unpredictable, barely controlled rolling black-outs and other drastic measures taken in recent years to cover such situations. Cal has a very large and diversified population, continued grow and the ever not in my back yard resistance to adding electrical production facilities.

Lefty

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audioguru

In my part of Canada the electrical utility is giving away programmable thermostats with free installation. So they can turn off your air-conditioner over the internet. They say that you won't even notice! Baloney.

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crusty

Better than a black out and no power at all. Besides I thought corporations control the government, not government control corporations..

kchriste

Now if the State of Cal would just pay the $100 million they owe BC for the electricity we sold them 8 years ago, maybe the lights would stay on.....

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Hank Fletcher

Oh yeah, you gotta bet there's going to be an exemption for Big Business. No doubt there'll be a direct relation between how often a household gets their own private blackout and how little that household makes annually. This is Big Brother all the way.

Move to New Brunswick, folks! The summer's here are awesome, warm, but not too warm. No one in New Brunswick has air conditioning (incidentally, no one in New Zealand has heating!), but the water gets warmer here for swimming than anywhere else I've been in Canada. They tell me it's got something to do with all the little streams that feed into the larger bodies of water - really clean, too!

kchriste

Don't encourage them! You need to keep a good thing quiet. Where I live house prices are through the roof and continuing to climb because so many people have decided to move here. $400K buys you a crappy "starter" home. It's an awful place. Don't waste your money investing in real estate here as it has just peaked and is sure to go down soon.

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shokjok

Someone will invent, and profit from, bypass code for PCTs. If you have remote alarm monitoring, that is possible to deny the coded signal access to your home. It's a sort of firewall from the supplier. Unlike grow-ops, your consumption is still monitored.

mneary

Exemption? Hardly. I work at a place you would call Big Business and for the past few power crises, they have reduced the lighting and curtailed certain manufacturing operations. They also made PA announcements to turn off nonessential computers etc. In one extreme case, HVAC was shut off for a short while.