SUSTAINABILITY CHOICES: IDENTIFY OPTIONAL TECHNOLOGY USING THE PECAN STREET SMART GRID DATABASE

Abstract

Effective measures for tackling climate change and the depletion of nature resources such as oil and natural gas are required, particularly in the residential sector. Varying in different countries, energy consumption of the residential sector accounts for 16–50% of that consumed by all sectors, and averages approximately 30% worldwide (Lukas G. Swan, 2009). This significant consumption level warrants leads researchers to have increasing interests in the real impact brought by renewable energy technologies and electricity pricing programs on electricity usage. A number of researches are conducted around this topic but most of them are not using real-time data to support their analysis. This report investigated the impact of solar, electric vehicles and demand response/time-of-use pricing programs on household electricity consumption using data collected by Pecan Street smart grid, which is one of the world’s largest energy database, from three different perspectives: 1) electricity savings 2) cost savings for utility 3) water savings for utility. Findings from this study suggest that all of the three approaches can lead to considerable savings for utility companies, and for consumers as well. The result of this report can be used as a strong and objective support in promoting renewable energy technologies and time-of-use pricing program.