Management
: Information feedback would allow consum
ers to see how much energy they are
consuming at any moment and how much it’s co
sting them. That would allow them to make
better decisions about using appliances like air conditioners and furnaces. They could
potentially lower their energy bills. Howe
ver, governments and energy companies need to
help consumers overcome the in
trusive feelings associated
with the technology. Dashboard
monitoring software must be easy fo
r consumers to understand and use.
Organizations
: There are many disincentives for energy
companies associated with smart grids.
Operating budgets and profits would be severe
ly impacted if cons
umers greatly reduced
their energy consumption. Implementation cost
s would be extremely high, even with federal
government assistance. Consumer backlash is already evident in the few experimental
cases to date. Without properly structuring t
he implementation, that backlash could grow
against the energy companies.
Technolo
gy
: Networks and switches for power management, sensor and monitoring devices to
track energy usage and distribution trends; sy
stems to provide energy suppliers and
consumers with usage data, communications s
ystems to relay data along the entire energy
supply system, and systems linked to programmabl
e appliances to run them when energy is
4
least costly, are all expensive and time-consuming to retrofit into all the homes across the
nation. Basically, the entire energy infras
tructure would require retrofitting.