Project turns on technology to save energy

Jerry Brous is helping to test the energy systems of the future. On his way back from a camping trip, he can switch on his home-heating system at an Internet cafe two hours away. He can monitor electricity prices in real time on his computer and tell his water heater to turn on when the price is lowest.

And he has a computer chip on his dryer that automatically turns the appliance off to prevent a power blackout in his area.

The Sequim homeowner is one of 300 volunteers in Washington and Oregon testing new equipment and technology in a pilot project created by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, a research arm of the U.S. Department of Energy.

The yearlong GridWise project aims to give consumers more information about energy use and cost to find out whether that makes any difference in their behavior. It will also test and promote technologies designed to make the Northwest power system more reliable.

"I'm a believer that if people know how they're using electricity, they will make changes to reduce it," said Brous, 65, who volunteered to try the technologies in his home after hearing about the project on the radio.

He received a new thermostat, a control unit for his water heater, a new $700 Whirlpool dryer with a computer chip and a box that gets radio signals to control the appliances.

In a demonstration Wednesday in Seattle, Sen. Patty Murray used the Internet-based system to turn down the power on his appliances remotely.

"Your kids may not listen when you tell them to shut off the lights, but these appliances certainly will," she said.

Murray, who obtained $3 million in federal funding for the project, says it could become a national model for how to reduce power demand and prevent the kinds of blackouts that hit California in 2001 and the East in 2003.

The part consumers control involves real-time energy pricing. Most utilities charge a flat rate to homeowners that is not affected by wholesale power cost or other factors that fluctuate with demand, said Rob Pratt, program manager at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

But under the project, people can see the real cost of energy and adjust usage accordingly.

The volunteers will get simulated electric bills and a mock bank account, but each quarter they will receive a real check for the money they save, which could be as much as $150 a year.

Retiree Brous said he delayed the time he turned his heater on in the morning and adjusted his water heater so that it stayed off in the middle of the night. So far, he's been able to save about $3 per month.

The software to connect smart energy devices and market pricing data was created by IBM and supplied free for the pilot program. It translates the data and tells devices to turn on or off, depending on price preselected by the end users.

It remains to be seen whether utility companies would invest in the systems in the real world.

The second part of the project involves allowing utilities to reduce power to dryers, refrigerators, water heaters and other home appliances in times of extreme stress on the electrical grid. The instant drop in energy load would act as a "shock absorber" for the system.

"It can make the difference between a problem that spins out of control and one that's nipped in the bud," Pratt said. He added that the 2003 blackout traveled from Ohio to New York in nine seconds.

The new appliances with a chip inside would respond automatically to electricity fluctuations in the outlet. The dryer, for example, would keep turning but cut off heat for a couple of minutes, he said.

Researchers will study how users react to such changes and whether they accept appliances with chips in them.

To make a difference in the system, one-third of all household appliances would have to be adjustable, Pratt said.

The project also includes some business and industrial users, such as the Port Angeles water-supply system, which is testing ways to adjust its pump generators to shift its electrical consumption.

The Northwest population is expected to grow significantly in the near future, requiring more power.

Making the current grid more efficient could save money and reduce the need for new transmission lines and towers in pristine environments, said Stephen Wright, chief executive of the Bonneville Power Administration, which supplies 75 percent of the electricity in the region.

For more information: www.goodwatts.com or gridwise.pnl.gov.

Kristi Heim: 206-464-2718 or kheim@seattletimes.com