{"id":576654,"date":"2010-05-24T14:57:41","date_gmt":"2010-05-24T18:57:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.greenrightnow.com\/?p=12022"},"modified":"2010-05-24T14:57:41","modified_gmt":"2010-05-24T18:57:41","slug":"college-team-touts-off-hour-electricity-bargains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/576654","title":{"rendered":"College team touts off-hour electricity bargains"},"content":{"rendered":"

From Green Right Now Reports<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/p>\n

Photo: Green Right Now<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Try as we might to conserve energy and cut down on those electric bills, doing so can be a challenge.<\/p>\n

Clothes need to be washed. You can fill the dishwasher to capacity, but it still has to run.<\/p>\n

But what if you could program those functions to work when electricity usage is at its lowest and rates are cheapest? Six students at Michigan Technological University<\/a> are developing a way to do just that. The group has designed a prototype for a \u201csmart meter\u201d that would replace the average home\u2019s watt meter.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s currently a mismatch between how much electrical power we can generate and when consumers need that power,\u201d faculty advisor John Lukowski says. \u201cThe goal was to create a device that would record, analyze and store data about energy consumption and current time-of-day energy pricing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not only can homeowners learn when power usage (and price) are at their lowest, but the meter also can control household devices based on time and date.<\/p>\n

\u201cSay it has been determined that the price of power is lowest at 2 a.m.,\u201d says Lukowski. \u201cThe meter can be set to automatically start the dishwasher at that time each day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Until theory becomes reality, the group recommended several ways to be smarter power consumers:<\/p>\n