[cobralibre]

Right, and this is a strictly opt-in scheme. Austin Energy partnered with Nest to do this last year, offering customers an $85 rebate as an incentive to help smooth out the spikes in energy use during hot summer afternoons. Austin Energy had actually been doing this before with a less sexy programmable thermostat; they also had a program in which customers would receive SMS messages requesting that they voluntarily reduce energy usage when heavy load was expected.

Increasing energy consumption is a real problem, both in terms of environmental impact and in terms of the power grid itself. A solution that mitigates these problems using attractive consumer technology without requiring significant lifestyle adjustments on the part of those consumers is admirably pragmatic and, in my view, most welcome.

https://nest.com/energy-partners/austin-energy/

http://kut.org/post/meet-answer-texas-air-conditioning-issue...

[wmf]

BTW, per capita energy consumption appears to have peaked in the US and some utilities are even concerned that the combination of flat demand, increasing efficiency, and solar could cause a "death spiral". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_the_United_States#Pro... http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/this-is-what-the... http://www.smartgridnews.com/artman/publish/Business_Strateg...