US government lays out cash for wall-based, in-home 'smart meters'
By Darren Murph 
posted October 27th 2009 4:47PM
posted October 27th 2009 4:47PM
Google has its PowerMeter, Microsoft has its Hohm and Obama has his "smart meters." Got it? Good. Around two years after UK taxpayers began footing the bill for in-home energy monitors, it seems as if America's current administration is looking to follow suit. While visiting the now-open solar facility in Arcadia, Florida today, the Pres announced that $3.4 billion in cash that the US doesn't actually have has just been set aside for a number of things, namely an intelligent power grid and a whole bundle of smart power meters. Aside from boring apparatuses like new digital transformers and grid sensors (both of which are designed to modernize the nation's "dilapidated" electric network), 18 million smart meters and 1 million "other in-home devices" will be installed in select abodes. The idea here is to give individuals a better way to monitor their electricity usage, with the eventual goal set at 40 million installed meters over the next few years. Great idea, guys -- or you know, you could just advise people to turn stuff off when they aren't using it, or not use energy they can't afford. Just sayin'.
i wish i could spend this much money that i dont have
This money is coming out of the stimulus funds that have already been set aside. The $3.4B is going towards 100 selected projects which includes fixing up the grid, and smart meters.
"This money is coming out of the stimulus funds that have already been set aside"
But it's still money they don't have. They're putting future generations deep in debt for stimulus projects that do nothing but make government bigger and campaign donors wealthier.
@SmittyMcSmith
Did you read your comment before posting?
Yes, the money has been set aside...from a funding source that doesn't exist in the first place. I also would like to say that I have set aside 1 million dollars to buy things next year, but just don't look for it in my bank account.
why the hell is big government spending all this $ on BS? I'm not gonna have any more of this. I've had it with all this malarky!
@THizzle7XU & @something clever:
a bill was passed to add these funds to the budget.
"But it's still money they don't have" & "from a funding source that doesn't exist in the first place" are ridiculous statements as the US government prints the money it needs. This is the cause of inflation, but as this has been added to the federal budget, it is just part of the whole budget which adds to our debt and inflation.
Why not complain about the $60B the federal spends in medicaid fraud, or the billions spent on the war both on our troops and other logistical needs MONTHLY. But your going to complain about spending some money to modernize our national infrastructure?!?! That's a great idea... lets let all of our bridges crumble too, and why not stop research new ways of harvesting energy... all of that is just a waist of our tax dollars in your eyes huh?
Guys, Jefferson lost the deficit financing argument to Hamilton over two hundred years ago. Can we please move on now? It's getting a little boring.
as much as a hate the govt spending money it doesn't have. going into a near depression/the steepest, longest, and deepest financial decline we've ever gone through...for the govt to get closed fist and say we're not gonna spend any money would be the dumbest thing ever. 1) i dont care how you look at the job numbers that have been saved/created even if it were half that you'd still be looking at circa 350k from the stimulus. but EVEN if you didn't count any of those, there would honestly be millions of people who would have run out of employment by now, with no prospect for a job if unemployment insurance wasn't extended.
I guess people forgot about how hoover tried to handle everything during his stretch of the great depression. Closing the checkbook would simply make things worst. Imagine GM bankrupt, Chrysler bankrupt, citibank and AIG folding...just those 4 companies alone would have this country in the crapper for the next 10 years...as in no growth, no jobs. We can deal with inflation and a weakening dollar later, put pulling the country outta the quicksand is honestly a lil more important
"the Prez announced that"
Can we use Pres instead? I thought we were talking about Perez Hilton for a second, and I had almost lost faith in the world.
And magically it is gone!
oh screw this! Obama is insane, great now I'm going to be punished for using electricity at specific times, F* This! Smart grids are evil!
It should be ok, usually agitated conservatives use power at off-peak hours, like 4 AM when the government isn't looking.
I think the governator has gotten into Obama's head. I was planning on moving to LA when I graduate next year, but with all the crap California is pulling, I'm thinking Orlando is a better choice.
Energy we can't afford? Jesus H. Tapdancing Christ.
The fact that we pay a single red penny for energy is an affront to all that is logical and reasonable in the world. Energy companies have had free reign over our pocket-books for far too long. I'm looking forward to a future where every house is it's own self-sufficient energy system complete with collection and storage. The "Grid" can go straight to hell and drag the dinosaur juice companies with it. Bring on individual home batteries (http://www.heraldextra.com/news/article_b0372fd8-3f3c-11de-ac77-001cc4c002e0.html) and an array of energy collection technologies! (PV, Wind, GT, HE)
Yeah, because all those energy technologies are free! Just like money from the government, it comes from the ether!
Well, it looks like you just volunteered yourself to go to engineering school and invent the future. I mean, if it's so simple.
You could tell the people in the projects that aren't paying for their heat to not set their thermostats to 80. Or even force it lower with governors. My dad is a pipefitter and his company has a government contract to change filters in projects. He has it is ridiculous how they do whatever with the thermostat and then still complain about being cold. But what do they care, it's already paid for with things such as our wonderful stimulus.
I mean, they don't have to pay the mortgage anymore: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P36x8rTb3jI
Yes, there are many people on Section 8 housing that continue to have way more children they can handle.
I live about 80 miles east of Los Angeles.
The County of Los Angeles actually relocates these Section 8 families to my nice little suburb because it is actually cheaper for the County to pay for them to live in a house where I do.
My neighborhood has turned to shit.
Crime has gone up and now the good people that lived in my neighborhood have moved away or let their homes foreclose because they do not want to live near these people. This one nice gated community is now called the gated ghetto because of all the Section 8 families that have moved in.
Be careful with your statements. You don't want to get on the administrations bad side!
Be careful you don't sound like a moron. Oops! Too late!
You mad?
In typical fashion Darren would rather be a overly sarcastic smartass and drag politics into tech while leaving out some of the cool shit that this system does. It allows you to set appliances to run at times you designate like running your diswasher at night when energy costs less or setting times when ur washer and dryer run.
http://www.examiner.com/x-5908-Boston-Environmental-Policy-Examiner~y2009m10d27-Today-President-Obama-announced-Smart-Grid-investment
If you want to be open minded and maybe look at the future of this it would be cool if this thing could be used to monitor how much power you pump back into the grid. For example we own a ranch style house and have a ton of roof space. Needless to say that solar panels on the house could put electricity into the grid all day long and thus lower the electric bill.
He's not diminishing the tech in these things. He's calling out the fact that the govt is pulling the funding for these things out of thin air. And you figure knowing this administration they will give them to a bunch of people who are too stupid to know how to use any of the features anyways. So it just becomes another device wasting power.
Instead of, oh I don't know, having electric companies give incentives to people who install them themselves on maybe their electric bills, or even a tax write off. At least the device is paid for by people who will want and therefore more likely be able to use them appropriately and truly save some power/money.
Actually if u read the artical i posted Utilities are footing 4.7 milltion dollars along side the 3.4 the gov is putting into this. Im not saying all this government spending is good cuz i work 2 jobs and trust me i see plenty of my money going to taxes and i realize its my (our, im 19) generation that is going to be footing the bill for all this shit but I see this as an investment. There is too many individuals that do not think about how many resources they use on a day to day basis that could be cut down with a little bit of thinking on their part.
Is Mr. Obama going to buy me a new, smart dishwasher that talks to my smart meter so it can run at night when the rates are(n't) lower? Unless he buys me a new dishwasher to replace the dumb one I bought last year, this is just more pie-in-the-sky spending that serves no purpose.
And guess who pays the utilities: you and I. It's not like it gets absorbed from their profits.So our electric bill goes up because the public housing two cities over go these installed, and the residents don't care because they don't pay the bill in the first place.
Average income per taxpayer is about $33,000 per year.
The country owes $12 Trillion in debts, and each individual tax payer owns about $110,00 of that.
The US unfunded liabilities is about $105 Trillion.
This device allows remote monitoring of our power consumption.
Prices of energy "Will Necessarily Cause Energy Prices to Skyrocket" because of cap and trade.
But hey, this has a lot of cool, bitchin' features! People shouldn't complain, it is the best thing for you. $189 for this device is a good price!
While the tech may not do it now, the eventual idea is to have the system work in reverse: the government can keep tabs on your electric use and regulate your appliances and furnaces and air conditioners and shut them off when they use too much juice.
It's not science-fiction, folks. This scheme was already tried once:
http://www.ucan.org/energy/electricity/california_energy_commission_wants_give_government_control_over_your_thermostat_during_emergency_events
Believe me, while they don't say it in this press release, version 2.0 of the meters will have the governmental remote-controls built in. Hello Big Brother...
The bottom line is that if you want a freakin' smart meter then go buy it yourself! When did Americans become so dang dependent on government to wipe their butts?
Don't talk shit about Darren. He's a cat that can play the keyboard, what more do you want?
@CJ: The remote shutoff thermostats exist in many more places than just CA. I've seen them in Florida, and here in Ontario.
A lot of them you still need to use batteries... So now youre making more waste from batteries...
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Great idea, guys -- or you know, you could just advise people to turn stuff off when they aren't using it, or not use energy they can't afford. Just sayin'.
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Except that's the advice that people have been given for years, and yet we don't seem to have picked up on it.
By giving a device that measures power usage, the usage is right there for you too see when it happens, instead of waiting until your power bill arrives, then being left thinking "where the heck did I use all this power?"
It'd also be useful in helping to determine what is sucking up all the power. "Wow, I turned on my time machine and all the sudden my power usage spiked...ah ha!"
It falls back to the old saying, "out of sight, out of mind". With these devices, it's a little bit more in sight, so maybe people will start keeping it in mind.
"With these devices, it's a little bit more in sight, so maybe people will start keeping it in mind."
The government doesn't do "maybe". However, the government does do "control".
So, about that UK link.....it says that ours would be available in 2008. It's not 2009. Any idea if/how I can get one?
what the hell Canada? Why can't my country ever innovate. in 5 years time we will catch up to Oct 27 2009
"the Pres announced that $3.4 billion in cash that the US doesn't actually have has just been set aside for a number of things"
This is a tech website. People do not come here for your witty political take on the current state of US debt. The only thing you accomplish by brining your political feelings into what should be a straight forward tech article is making me consider surfing gizmodo instead.
If you truely hate politics in tech articles then you'll hate Gizmodo. However if you are just a whiney leftist then Giz is the place for you.
@ Darren Murph
"Great idea, guys -- or you know, you could just advise people to turn stuff off when they aren't using it, or not use energy they can't afford. Just sayin'."
Apparently you have no idea what you're talking about. It's not just about turning off devices when you're not using them.
In trials where these meters were installed, consumers were able to make intelligent decisions on their electric consumption. Say for instance it's a hot summer day and you see how much electricity you are consuming and decide that you can raise the thermostat to 82 degrees because the comfort to cool your house down to 74 degrees is not worth the cost. But later in the week, you are hosting a party and you make the conscience decision to to lower the thermostat because you are willing to pay the extra cost to accommodate your guests.
It's a tool, like anything else, that enables you to make an educated decision. And in trials, it did lower energy use. In fact, after the trial was over and the meters were being removed, the participants asked to keep them.
Just sayin'.
Or consumers could determine on their own whether these devices are helpful/useful according to their own needs/desires. Then they could use their own money to purchase said device and realize savings in the long run. While others who did not find it helpful/useful could refrain from purchasing it.
I'm not sure anyone here was questioning whether these devices were effective or had useful features. Some of us just don't like things thrust upon us from money we are forced to pay.
Just sayin'.
That is great. If it saves them money, then they can afford to buy it for themselves.
Like what was said above, the US Government does not have the money to pay for this. http://www.usdebtclock.org/
Bockcara/Chris
And what about the 33 percent of Americans who rent, and therefore would never pay for something like this?
except when enough people see the benefits, the pricing structure will shift because too many people are SAVING money. That's always what happens... Due to the recession gas prices are down this fall because companies were shut down most of the year. Except the power company wants to raise the per-unit price this fall (bumping the price back up) rather than pass along the discount to the regular folk that took it up the backside 2 years ago. I'm replacing appliances, adding insulation and keeping my temp down during the winter and while it's knocking 15% off my USAGE my bill still goes up! And they want to add more ways for it to go up.
This becomes regressive "tax" because the middle and poor folks can't afford the shiny new hi-e homes and upgrades to get the good discounts.... the guy with 9-5 job gets all sorts of breaks (because they're in their safe little job all day using no power at home) and the majority of folks on 2nd /3rd shift, social security, housewives, etc all get nicked extra because the do their stuff during "business" hours.
I'm not liking Obama's plans because they are relying on setting the public up for "industry professionals" to "do the right thing"... which sounds great on paper and in the Halls of Academia, but almost never actually HAPPENS! I do applaud this President for trying to address economic and environmental issues at the household level rather than just sticking their heads in the sand like previous administrations have done hoping it would "go away".
Will smart meters turn down your heat/air without your authorization?
While the snarkiness of the original post is notable, it's worth pointing out that "telling people to just turn off stuff when they aren't using it" is not of lasting value.
Without getting political about the costs of implementing this, the point is to draw attention to people's ACTUAL use by monitoring it, and doing appropriate things to /reduce/ one's own energy bills (as well as conserve energy in general). Without the reinforcement of units like these, a lot of people just do "whatever" and don't pay any attention to their actual energy use. I would go farther and say to people "Look at what you'll be able to do with the money you saved from energy efficiency". Kinda like the Geico "Money staring at you" commercials.
I vote we keep on keeping on the way we are currently going. No innovation, no renewal, just constant in-fighting. No investing in 'future' (read: current) technologies. Things are fine the way they are with the roads and bridges, the power system, oil and gas, education, healthcare...
I need to learn Chinese....
instead of telling us that electricity is scarce and putting a nanny in our houses, why don't they spend the money on real tangible objects (called productive capital) like 4th generation nuclear reactors. You know, the kind all the environmentalists in Europe say is the cleanest and best source of power.
As such, this is nothing other than wasted money. smart meters are not productive capital, but instead line somebody's pocket for a while until the next big cash spree gets handed out in DC
Instead, we are building windmills like some thrid world country. ...oh wait, we are a ...
when Al Gore and the President consent to letting us set their usage, maybe then we can find some neutral ground
but until then, the "scarcity" or electricity is a red herring and pointless.
Why are they funding electric cars if electricity is scarce?
Hilarious post. But oh so real. I understand that the UK is also rolling out smart garbage sensors too so you can't throw away too much trash. George Orwell lives!
As of 2007 there were 111,162,259 households in the US.
$3.4 billion would buy 170,000,000 kill-a-watt meters at $20 each. They could get them for $10 each easily and send 2 to every household in the country.
Instead the government will do "18 million smart meters and 1 million "other in-home devices" will be installed in select abodes. The idea here is to give individuals a better way to monitor their electricity usage, with the eventual goal set at 40 million installed meters over the next few years."