The very large VPP described here in Texas sounds exiting with starting with the Nest thermostat and optimizing homes' HVAC and hot water heater energy consumption. I am looking forward to adding the home garage or car batteries to these measures, hopefully with as much rooftop or small farm solar, too. This would also help neighbors in the VPP shift to help low supply energy areas.
I'm already demand shifting using Home Assistant & Comed Hourly pricing on my Rheem hybrid heat pump water heater. When prices are negative, I fire up my electric resistance on the unit, and when they are high, I lower the set water temperature.
I hope David one day digs further into Home Assistant since he keeps being very adjacent to it in many of his podcasts, including the Enshittification pod.
I have to say I found this pod both interesting and frustrating. The concept seems great, but at this point it just sounds like demand shifting to me. I have no idea if they're actually using batteries. It sounds to me like they don't connect to any water heaters and don't have any real plans to do so. In places other than CA, TX, and NY, I am very unclear on how it actually works, and their actual business model. I don't know if I can get my data from them if I choose to leave their platform. I don't know how much money participants have saved, or how much energy they've saved/shifted. Do all 5 million participants even know they're a part of this? He keeps talking about having done this for 15 years, but there appears to be very little actual information. And speaking of consumer experience- I went to their website. I have a Honeywell thermostat. I have no idea how to sign up, or even find out if I am eligible.
I agree—the industry is still working through a lot of complexities, especially around how to communicate opportunities to customers broadly when every utility and energy market has unique requirements. This link might help you check if your Honeywell Home thermostat is eligible for a program: https://www.resideo.com/us/en/utility-savings-programs/
Thanks for the link. Looks like there aren't any programs in my area. Sigh. I have been surprised at how hard it is to find information about these sorts of things. I am trying to plan to replace my furnace/AC next year and have been looking for good information on models, payback periods, costs, etc. I've contacted Energy Sage and Rewiring America, no luck on anything. My local HVAC companies are convinced I need a backup furnace, but everything I read indicates that may not be true. It is very frustrating.
Yes. I don't think Mr. Volts is slacking- in his interviews, he pushes harder than many others- but I do think we're at a place in the energy transition where it is fair to ask questions about real, direct impacts in the real world today. There are so many episodes of this pod and many others that I have listened to over the past decade-plus with so many promising technologies/business plans and I am truly interested in how those are doing (or not doing). I think those successes/failures hold many more lessons than yet another "entrepreneur" who is trying to get venture capital.
At least one company makes an after market add on water heater controller.
https://aquanta.io/
This sounds really interesting, thank you
The very large VPP described here in Texas sounds exiting with starting with the Nest thermostat and optimizing homes' HVAC and hot water heater energy consumption. I am looking forward to adding the home garage or car batteries to these measures, hopefully with as much rooftop or small farm solar, too. This would also help neighbors in the VPP shift to help low supply energy areas.
I'm already demand shifting using Home Assistant & Comed Hourly pricing on my Rheem hybrid heat pump water heater. When prices are negative, I fire up my electric resistance on the unit, and when they are high, I lower the set water temperature.
I hope David one day digs further into Home Assistant since he keeps being very adjacent to it in many of his podcasts, including the Enshittification pod.
I have to say I found this pod both interesting and frustrating. The concept seems great, but at this point it just sounds like demand shifting to me. I have no idea if they're actually using batteries. It sounds to me like they don't connect to any water heaters and don't have any real plans to do so. In places other than CA, TX, and NY, I am very unclear on how it actually works, and their actual business model. I don't know if I can get my data from them if I choose to leave their platform. I don't know how much money participants have saved, or how much energy they've saved/shifted. Do all 5 million participants even know they're a part of this? He keeps talking about having done this for 15 years, but there appears to be very little actual information. And speaking of consumer experience- I went to their website. I have a Honeywell thermostat. I have no idea how to sign up, or even find out if I am eligible.
I agree—the industry is still working through a lot of complexities, especially around how to communicate opportunities to customers broadly when every utility and energy market has unique requirements. This link might help you check if your Honeywell Home thermostat is eligible for a program: https://www.resideo.com/us/en/utility-savings-programs/
Thanks for the link. Looks like there aren't any programs in my area. Sigh. I have been surprised at how hard it is to find information about these sorts of things. I am trying to plan to replace my furnace/AC next year and have been looking for good information on models, payback periods, costs, etc. I've contacted Energy Sage and Rewiring America, no luck on anything. My local HVAC companies are convinced I need a backup furnace, but everything I read indicates that may not be true. It is very frustrating.
Agree, I listened to the pod in YouTube and came here to see if other people had the same experience I did.
To add to your points, dude doesn’t answer the questions and at times Mr Volts had to make the same question several times
Yes. I don't think Mr. Volts is slacking- in his interviews, he pushes harder than many others- but I do think we're at a place in the energy transition where it is fair to ask questions about real, direct impacts in the real world today. There are so many episodes of this pod and many others that I have listened to over the past decade-plus with so many promising technologies/business plans and I am truly interested in how those are doing (or not doing). I think those successes/failures hold many more lessons than yet another "entrepreneur" who is trying to get venture capital.
And in Hawaii (water heaters and pool filters)
https://www.shiftedenergy.com/hawaii/