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How they pay us to reduce energy consumption
By now we are all aware that we should use less electricity. We'd save some money at the end of the month and ultimately benefit the environment by reducing our carbon footprint, but sadly that's not really enough of an incentive for most of us, and see we posted 30 tips on how to save energy and light at home the easy way.
Entrepreneurs' imaginations can go a long way and this time users are financially rewarded for using less energy since the Ohmconnect company launched four years ago. A startup that has achieved a suitable balance so that we are interested in saving electricity and what by the way, they pay us.
The idea for savings
The basis of the idea is that if a single homeowner turns off his television at night, the action is barely registered on the electrical grid. It is an appliance in a home, among millions. But, when thousands of homeowners turn off their televisions, turn off the lights, and go without washing for an hour, then the collective impact can make a difference.
Potentially, it is the difference between a well-managed and healthy electrical network, to a saturated network and that is forced to use "emergency power". In addition to being more expensive to produce (they need to activate additional power plants to meet demand) or buy, it is more polluting.
The company monitors energy markets to detect spikes in energy demand. When he sees that the network needs a certain reduction in demand, he sends text messages to his user base suggesting energy-saving actions, such as doing without the washing machine for an hour, for example.
The user dashboard allows you to track your energy use and the money you have earned. You can also compare consumption with other users on the network. (According to points you receive what is called Tokens that you can exchange it for money or other promotions)
When users subscribe to the service, the company accesses the home's smart meter and any compatible Internet-connected device (No special equipment to buy or install) to understand the historical energy use in the house. A few times a week - if necessary - the company alerts us to power spikes and asks us to reduce power consumption.
The service not only helps you save electricity for users when they use less energy during times when the demand for electricity is highest. In addition, if you have some type of smart thermostat or a home automation system at home, for example the famous Nest, the Belkin or the Tesla thermostats, they can even automatically manage the energy consumption part so that we literally do not have to do anything.
On average, users earn around 100 dollars a year without accounting for what you can save on electricity, depending on the amount of electricity that is usually used in the home.
Unfortunately, the service is currently only available for California (USA) but seeing the progression of the company (290,000 clients) and interested users, we are facing a Startup with a great future and that will benefit us all.
In theory, this not only benefits our pockets or reduces emissions - peak-hour power plants tend to have larger carbon footprints - but it can also help stabilize the power grid by reducing spikes in activity, which That could ease the transition to renewable energy sources like solar and wind power.
How does the Startup make money?
Electric companies create forecasts of energy demand, when they have excess demand for electricity they need to activate additional power plants to satisfy the demand (this energy is more expensive) or buy it from other companies.
Faced with this excess cost of energy, electric utilities prefer to pay people to use less electricity and not have to turn on these emergency power plants or have to buy energy through energy markets.
You have to think that electricity is like a market. The company can promise the market that not so much power will be needed. That promise is worth money!
If we are interested in learning a little more about the idea, there is more information on the Ohmconnect company website.
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