Household appliances that communicate with the power grid
U.S. Department of Energy Laboratory researchers have been working on getting smart appliances to communicate with the local power grid. This would enable the appliances to determine when it would be most beneficial to power down, or use less energy. They liken the technology to “shock absorbers” for the power grid.
When the power grid is having a difficult time supplying enough energy to all of its consumers, a dryer, for example, could turn off its heating unit for a few minutes to momentarily conserve power, while still tumbling your clothes to avoid wrinkles. In fact, researchers are testing the project by issuing free dryers to select consumers with high-speed Internet access in several cities. Similar functionality could be utilized by freezers, such as knowing when to defrost and when not to.
Researchers believe consumers won’t even notice any change in the behavior of their appliances, but the energy grid could benefit substantially by this.
