Precourt Institute Workshop

I had the great honor to participate in the Precourt Institute's Energy and Feedback Workshop at Stanford this week.

A phenomonal group of about 50 people from a broad variety of disciplines came together to discuss behavioral aspects to energy efficiency and demand response.

Although we didn't come out of the workshop with the theory of everything, but we did get one step closer. And I came out of this workshop with a changed vision for the future of utilities.

Some takeaways:

- Wireless sensor networks will be ubiquitous, and we have no idea how great the benefits will be in the long run.
(ref. anecdotes from Echelon, GE, Stanford Researchers, etc.)

- Privacy and security concerns are and will continue to be a huge component to the smart grid/home
(ref. Diedre Mulligan from Berkeley law, et. al)

- Low tech solutions - broadcast media, direct mail, DIY energy efficiency measures - are effective, and underutilized.
(ref. PositiveEnergy direct mail campaigns)

- Personal identification with the messenger, peer pressure, and guilt, are remarkably effective methods to market green messages
(ref. Stanford research showing that if a querent shares your birthdate, you're more likely to try to answer the question, Al Bandura's results of mass media messaging)

- Consumers can be quite irrational when it comes to perceived value of things, so rational price structures don't always work as expected. Adequately communicated tiered pricing has promise
(ref. CPUC's explanation that tiered pricing hasn't worked as a behavior incentive in CA, Brattle Group)

- Some people will irrationally overreact to economic shocks
(ref. Ideo's research on homeowners responses to Juno Alaska power outage for DOE. (Look for this DOE study when it comes out))

- Some people will spend irrational amounts of time playing games that others perceive to be work.
(ref. Google's labeler game)

- Comfort, entertainment, and social acceptance trump cost savings.
(ref. anecdotes from Omar Siddiqui (EPRI) et. al., response to the PCT pilots and 11% drop rate for direct load control programs without override)

- Social networking around energy use will be one of the first consumer applications of the smart grid
(validated by the under 30's who attended the workshop)

- A new generation of young people is going to revolutionize the electric power industry.
(ref. the remarkable and creative students I met from Stanford, MIT, RPI)


I truly appreciated participating with this group, and it has allowed me to think about the same issues in a new way. And it gave me a plethora of new blog topics.

Speaking of blogging, posts should pick up again in October. I've been extra busy this summer, but look forward to catching up in a few weeks.

I'm off to Atlanta (Utilimetrix conference) tomorrow. I'll be working the Itron booth, so stop by.