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RSSLocal Efforts: ComEd Smart Meter Program
GreenWerks | 
Jul 19th, 2010 | 
Credit to Greentechmedia.com
ComEd, along with many other electrical companies throughout the US such as Southern California Edison, Duke Energy in North Carolina, Pacific Gas and Electric in California, Empowerment Institute in New York, and Oncor Electric Delivery in Texas, among others, has implemented the use of Smart Meter programs. ComEd’s program offers an online Web page that lets people monitor their electricity usage in easy to understand language. The site compares your energy usage to that of similar households and offers helpful tips on how to conserve energy usage and save money.
Credit to Comed Smart Meter Brochure
Obviously it is quite nice to be able to view daily or however frequently desired your household energy usage to mitigate that pseudo-shock of those $200 bills at the end of the month, but there has been some criticism of how much this will actually help people conserve energy. The basic tips of unplug appliances and anything else in our electrical sockets not actually in use, turning down/up heat/AC when no one is home, keeping blinds closed in the summer, “winterizing” windows in winter, taking shorter showers, etc. are already pretty popular. Possibly, those who don’t do those things yet due to lack of effort may be finally pushed into it through smart-meter programs, or possibly ComEd and other energy companies really do have further insight?
Either way, it is great to see any sort of effort from ComEd, especially with the online access, and hopefully we’ll learn a few things and save some energy.
There is actually a remarkable number of energy efficiency tips on the Smart Meter website, http://www.ComEd.com/SmartTools, and almost everyone can learn something new. CNT Energy, a non-profit in Chicago, is doing demonstrations of ComEd’s Smart Meter website in the 10 communities where smart meters have been installed. To find out if one is near you, go to our website at http://www.cntenergy.org.
Gail, Thanks for the comment and links– the CNT Energy site offers some great information. I actually used to live by you guys on North and always loved seeing the garden on the side of the building!