Will The State Of California Control Your Thermostat?
By Steve Foley Posted in State Politics — Comments (23) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
In what I characterize as a stunningly invasive intrusion into our homes the state is about to mandate that each new home and each newly renovated or remodeled home in California be fitted with a “programmable communicating thermostat” or PCT
What’s being proposed is a revision to Title 24. Title 24 is a 236 pages of state-mandated standards for building energy efficiency. Most of the time these standards and regulations are designed to help, unfortunately, this particular intrusion into the sanctity of our homes is not one of them. Energy Commission’s newly-proposed rules about your thermostat (PDF, see pages 63-64)
(c) Thermostats. All unitary heating and/or cooling systems including heat pumps that are not controlled by a central energy management control system (EMCS) shall have a Programmable Communicating Thermostat (PCT) that is certified by the manufacturer to the Energy Commission to meet the requirements of Subsections 112(c)(1) and 112(c)(2) below:
1. Setback Capabilities. All PCTs shall have a clock mechanism that allows the building occupant to program the temperature set points for at least four periods within 24 hours. Thermostats for heat pumps shall meet the requirements of Section 112(b).
2. Communicating Capabilities. All PCTs shall be distributed with a non-removable Radio Data System (RDS) communications device that is compatible with the default statewide DR communications system, which can be used by utilities to send price and emergency signals. PCTs shall be capable of receiving and responding to the signals indicating price and emergency events as follows.
A. Price Events. The PCT shall be shipped with default price-event offsets of +4°F for cooling and -4°F for heating enabled; however, customers shall be able to change the offsets and thermostat settings at any time during price events. Upon receiving a price-event signal, the PCT shall adjust the thermostat setpoint by the number of degrees indicated in the offset for the duration specified in the signal of the price event. The PCT shall also be equipped with the capability to allow customers to define setpoints for heating and cooling in response to price signals as an alternative to temperature-offsetting response, as described in Reference Joint Appendix JA5.
B. Emergency Events. Upon receiving an emergency signal, the PCT shall respond to commands contained in the emergency signal, including changing the setpoint by any number of degrees or to a specific temperature setpoint. The PCT shall not allow customer changes to thermostat settings during emergency events.
What exactly is a PCT:
California continues to push forward with revisions to its Title 24 Building Energy Efficiency Standards that will mandate a programmable communicating thermostat (PCT) for all new residential buildings. PCT's are thermostats that receive price or electric system reliability signals, and can be programmed by the customer to automatically reduce energy consumption through thermostat set-point adjustments. This initiative will be effective beginning in 2009.
PCTs are part of California’s strategy to develop a statewide demand response system that can be used to encourage a more informed and empowered customer base. In time, such a system is expected to reduce system costs and prevent system disruptions. Other North American states and provinces are closely watching the California Title 24 initiative with interest in adopting similar programs.
This kind of big brother control over your home should frighten the bejesus out of you, I know it does me. If for any reason the state-regulated utilities deem that there is an “emergency”, they can do anything they want to your air conditioner or heater!
Exactly who or what entity gets to decide what an “emergency” is? With absolutely no override capability the home owner has zero control to change these settings. I guess that’s just too bad for the elderly sweltering in the summer heat?
This technology isn’t new, In fact, the utilities were offering discounts to those buyers who voluntarily installed these thermostats. So it begs the question, why is the state government here mandating these units?
Now, this is all an effort to mitigate the effects of high power draw in the hot summer months, when people are running their air conditioners. In the past, these situations have resulted in rolling blackouts and much political strife from the constituents. Those of us who have some economic sense and a history of California would point out that most of the woes this is intended to solve are the unintended consequences of California’s royally incompetent regulation and “de”regulation of their energy sector. Screwy regulatory hurdles, NIMBYism, and lobbying have resulted in a system which has completely destroyed any semblance of a market, and artificially limited increases in supply which might have kept electricity plentiful and prices low. Instead of fixing the problem, they’re simply adding another layer.
This idiocy needs to be stopped immediately so I urge any and all Californians to contact the “process administrator” of these proceedings, Chris Gekas or your local legislator. and demand they put a stop to this nonsense. Complaints need to be registered by January 30th!
Water absorbs heat when it evaporates. Swamp coolers use that principle to cool the air.
You only find them in the arid states of the West where it is very dry.
Last thing you want in your home on this side of the country is MORE humidity...
"Guns don't kill people...
"...But they sure help!"
-Paul Giamatti, Shoot 'Em Up
Others in the thread describe it correctly, but in essence a pad (in the case of the one I have aspen) is sprayed with water, air drawn across it and blown into the house. The same effect if you get wet then run around on a hot dry day. If you care to learn more, google something called "Master Cool".
Used to be very popular in the West, less so in new construction but really saves big bucks on electricity when you're on a tiered rate system like in CA. Top rate is like 45c/KwH....ouch.
By the way, I have the gizmo on my house a/c compressor that lets Edison cut off the juice during power shortages, no big deal expect for the 10 or so days in the summer when the humidity is up.
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Proud member of the Barry Goldwater wing of the party !
I read about that the other day. Pretty scary stuff, but not surprising coming from the environazi crowd. Californians will probably love it.
I'm just surprised the CA legislators haven't called for adding a cigarette smoke detector to that contraption....you know, for the children !!1!eleven!!1!
Any chance all this nanny-statism and over-reaching will backfire? No? Didn't think so.
Don't give them any ideas!
www.scottbomb.com
Click here to donate to the Fred Thompson campaign.
Stock up on portable heaters and window unit air conditioners. Better yet, buy stock in companies that manufacture these.
My wife's Mutual Fund just matured and we can invest the money from there and it's paltry 4.5% to some real investments...
"Guns don't kill people...
"...But they sure help!"
-Paul Giamatti, Shoot 'Em Up
Even for those who are afraid of replacing the thermostat with an illegal black market model smuggled in from Mexico, all they have to do is point a little 1500 watt portable heater at thermostat on emergency AC set back days and they can get all the cold air they want.
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Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself. - Milton Friedman
I'm an electronics hobbyist and I can already imagine a circuit that fools the thermostat into thinking the A/C or heater isn't running.
I see opportunities for a whole new black market.
www.scottbomb.com
Click here to donate to the Fred Thompson campaign.
1) This would presumably precede rolling blackouts. Personally, I would rather have my thermostat jacked up a few degrees than have my lights go off which I consider much more stunningly invasive.
2) They already have the authority to declare an emergency and institute rolling blackouts. So how is this giving anyone new powers?
This seems like a good use of technology to lessen the impact of power shortages during our peak summer months.
Let more power plants be built. You know, like maybe enough to provide for the needs of the populace...
"Guns don't kill people...
"...But they sure help!"
-Paul Giamatti, Shoot 'Em Up
No one would dream of trying that here. If you screw with our thermostats here in Texas during the summer I guarantee someone is going to get whacked.
"Nothing works like freedom, Nothing succeeds like liberty"
Kyle
Where the utility gives you money for the right to (Turn off ONLY) selected appliances.
While the obvious implication of the law is that the utility would turn down usage to accommodate available capacity, they could just adjust the settings to maximize revenue. I could see thermostats being set to 80 on cold days and 50 on warm days all as an energy emergency event.
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"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777
There is something called a market - if electricity gets more expensive you have to pay more for it. Some people will use less, but people who really want to keep cool will keep their thermostats set low and pay the higher price. The freedom to decide how to spend your own money, wow...
Or you can have this "idiocy" [I agree with your term 5x5 ]. This proposal makes me think of gun registration plans that get followed a few years later by gun confiscation plans. First they get these talking thermostats in your home - then the government sets the temperature for you in your own home [used to be your castle - oh well].
While big brother control is never a good thing it is untrue and unfair to say that this gives the state government the ability to control your heating/cooling system.
You wrote:
With absolutely no override capability the home owner has zero control to change these settings.
but the excerpt you included clearly states:
The PCT shall also be equipped with the capability to allow customers to define setpoints for heating and cooling in response to price signals as an alternative to temperature-offsetting response, as described in Reference Joint Appendix JA5.
If you don't want any changes to be made you can simply set your thermostat not to respond to the price/emergency alerts.
Additionally, the thermostats are not told what to adjust to. The RDS simply lets them know that an emergency is taking place - how it reacts to that is dependent upon its internal programming, which the customer has control over.
As far as who determines what an emergency event is: Those are determined by CAL-ISO based upon the level of usage drawing near the system's capacity. The "emergency" designation is part of a system already in place today, nothing new.
B. Emergency Events. Upon receiving an emergency signal, the PCT shall respond to commands contained in the emergency signal, including changing the setpoint by any number of degrees or to a specific temperature setpoint. The PCT shall not allow customer changes to thermostat settings during emergency events.
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"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777
And the morons are worried about warrantless wiretaps.
I meant what I said and I said what I meant. An elephant's faithful 100 percent.
Steve
If only the voters of California had listened back during the recall of Grey "Med Fly" Davis, this whole mess could have been avoided. Isn't that the theme of the week?
If only we had gone with Tom "Don't play well with others" McClintock instead of this ersatz Republican (using a German sounding word so I sound like I'm slamming the Governator) we wouldn't have silly rules like this being proposed.
With Arnie about to raise taxes by putting a "fee" on home insurance policies and a bunch of other taxes because he's too gutless to use the line item veto to cut spending, about the last thing I'm getting worked up about is a darn thermostat...dude.
Besides, I added a swamp cooler to my new house last summer and my electric bill was cut by about 2/3 over the previous summer.
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Proud member of the Barry Goldwater wing of the party !