Studies show how monitoring and smart appliances cut home energy bills
Being able to see a readout of power consumption can lead to consumers using significantly less electricity, according to results from a Pacific Northwest National Laboratory experiment in the United States. In a similar PNNL study, home appliances equipped with technology to briefly shut them down automatically at peak moments of consumption also played a part in noticeably cutting participants' electricity bills.
The results of a pair of year-long studies that use so-called intelligent appliances show that new power grid management tools in the home - and even in the appliances themselves - can help save homeowners money while improving power grid efficiency at the same time.
The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) - part of the Department of Energy - and its Pacific Northwest GridWise Demonstration Project found that advanced technologies saved the consumers who participated in the study 10 percent on their electricity bills, on average.