Report describing utilities' attack plan on solar power

[DanKegel]

But again you are thinking that a lot of people will be able to upgrade to high tech appliances and I am saying that the vast majority of the populace will be happy using a 12 year old fridge because that is all they can afford.

Nope. I'm thinking ahead again a couple years.
When they buy that appliance in the first place, it'll come with this feature included, and it'll be dirt cheap... as they say, eventually, everything fits on one chip, and that one chip costs $5.

[jflorey2]

But you'd support an opt-in system that made it really easy, right?

Your Leaf has a system that makes it "really easy." It takes about five button pushes. But you have said that "takes too much thought."

[Sunking]

Close the Thread. All it is doing is feeding the TROLL what he wants.

[DanKegel]

Your Leaf has a system that makes it "really easy." It takes about five button pushes. But you have said that "takes too much thought."

It took me six months to discover that myself, and I'm a tech-friendly guy.

Nobody wants to read the manual or fiddle with buttons and screens anymore, they want things to Just Work.
Have you done any tech support for family members? OMG, the pain... Consumer technology has to be dead simple to get used.

For an example of the problem, see this note about usability of programmable thermostats: eetd.lbl.gov/newsletter/nl35/eetd-nl35-2-thermostats.html
It says in part:
"homes with programmable thermostats were not saving as much energy as expected - and might even be using more compared to homes without them. The suspected cause was that people were programming their thermostats incorrectly, or not bothering at all."

[Ian S]

"homes with programmable thermostats were not saving as much energy as expected - and might even be using more compared to homes without them. The suspected cause was that people were programming their thermostats incorrectly, or not bothering at all."

Count me in the latter category. We don't have a well defined schedule so I gave up with the older programmable thermostat: just left it at a constant setting. And carried that over to the one installed with the new AC/Furnace. The new one though works with Nexia so I have an app on my smartphone that I can use to change the settings over the wireless network. We'll be traveling over Christmas so we'll just turn the thermostat down before we leave and then a few hours prior to returning home, I'll reset it to a more comfortable temperature for when we walk in the door.