How would you like it if the electric company set your theromostat lower instead of higher and drove up how much you had to pay them and you couldn't stop them. Remember Enron? I mean, can you turn off the thermostat? Not supposed to mess with them. Do not be too quick to give away control of anything in your home. Unless you are willing to give away control for virtually everything that some company or government agency can get control over at your expense. associate degree program | online degrees | bachelors degree program

I was not on that show but i strongly suggest people to control the electricity consumption in their homes if they want to see California moving on towards prosperity, people must make some plans for this that how they can save more and more electricity and consumption, as i can suggest them to use virtual private server services which are much reliable and easy to use, One thing i hear that the California Energy Commission will be closed on the first three Fridays of each month until June 2010 because of the state furlough days. Energy Commission staff will not be available to respond to phone calls or e-mail on these days. We apologize for any inconvenience. More on i see that people are going to use managed hosting services in proper way, and can make things in better use, i was on California trip and see the mostly people are getting some cheap and reliable packages of windows hosting services because they are cheap and easy to use but one thing i must say that people of California and rest or part of world but be care full while using electricity.

Is this measure taken as a consequence of the weather heating?

Be careful adding one of these misters to your A/C system. HVAC systems are designed to operate under certain conditions. They call HVAC systems air cooled or air source for a reason. It's not designed to operate with cool water running over it all the time. It's a band aid fix at best. If your system is undersized it may help....the greater benefit would be in dry hotter climates with a undersized system that runs constantly (check your air filter and make sure your system is clean). If your system is properly sized it won't need to have "more capacity" it will have been designed correctly using proper contracting methods. If your system is over sized and already short cycles this will make it even larger adding the the short cycling effect....although this sounds good on paper...wow less energy because it doesn't run as long....in reality your A/C system is also a de-humidifier and those short cycles have two major problems. More stress on the system from always getting higher starting amperage as opposed to the system equalizing out to the point where it's most efficient and higher humidity levels in your home. If your home is already relatively dry you may not notice but in high humidity climates you need as much moisture removal as possible to keep your home below the 55% maximum recommended relative humidity level.

If your A/C is sucking up your dollars make sure the outdoor unit is clean and unobstructed with good clearance all around it. Make sure you change your filter monthly and you have your system's superheat and subcooling checked by a professional to make sure your system is correctly charged. Don't allow them to check the charge if they do not verify the amount of air your system is moving (400 CFM/ton).....that's the number one thing...after all the first word in air conditioning is air. Other than verifying your home is tight and you have done all you can good luck for summer folks and visit energy star's website for home improvement tips: http://www.energystar.gov/ia/products/heat_cool/GUIDE_2COLOR.pdf

Great news. Yes, the utilities should have some limited ability to "cap" peak demand on A/C during the summer peaks. As long as the humidity is down, a few degrees warmer won't bother anyone very much. Fact is people are just not very attentive to these problems. The prevention of over demand will temper the need to blackout an area. However, the state should also require California power generators to vastly improve the efficiency of their power plants and power distribution systems.

Next: cars will have radio receivers to moderate the throttle! Yep, you heard me. As you drive along the highway radio signals will tell the car what the max speed is and even what the max acceleration rate is! Not only will this cap your speed to within a few mph above the limit, but during traffic jams, the gummint will be able to slow everyone down to reduce bottle-necking! Only emergency vehicles will be able to get around this. An additional provision will be that the less efficient a car is, the more limiting the governor will be on the driver. Take the pizazz out of driving in the name of fuel efficiency, low emissions and safety.

Coupled to the above is the gasoline tax applied according to your car performance! Yes, the car will have a government mandated and provided computer to measure and relay vehicle mileage and fuel consumption to the gasoline pump via radio and the tax will go up (exponentially) according to the inefficiency of the car. Cars that meet a threshold (well above 50 mpg) will actually get a tax refund right there on the spot! In this way the inefficient cars drivers will be rewarding the efficient! (Of course this will remain biased so the government gets most of the taxes). Business vehicles owners will get a rebate on this tax.

Responding to "Sane Person's" view of the simplicity of choice between blackout and Big Brother. I choose instead to vote out the idiot democratic legislators, who by their inaction and overwhelming incomptence have insured to us that California is, and will continue to be, underpowered. Heat waves are not "unexpected". They occur every summer, and if we cannot build into the grid sufficient power to address this ANNUAL problem, we get the California we deserve. I'm from Texas, originally, and trust me when I tell you that it gets a bit warm in the southern climes there, as well. Not once, ever, did I experience a rolling power blackout in Houston when the temperatures were well into the triple digits. Not once have I heard such a report from my family since I left there. Why do you suppose that is?

I propose that you, Sane Person, start a petition drive for sign up volunteers to your "government remote control AC program", instead of trying to force this inane plan down the throats of those who are disinclined to follow it. Since the idea is such good one, I'm sure you'll have no problem at all getting signatures from at least 50 to 75 percent of the population out here.

Or will you?

Regards,

Joe Henry

As a professional in the field of residential design and remodels this is just another example of the government ( i.e. CEC) sticking their fingers where they shouldn't be. It's my understanding that this new thermostat law will only apply to new homes and the substantial remodeling of existing homes (as well as commercial buildings). Has everyone failed to notice that new homes, and major remodels, are already energy efficient thanks to the standards currently in place by the CEC. It's the older homes, say without any insulation or eneryg efficient windows, that are the energy drains. Since this solution will not affect older, existing homes, without any remodeling going on, then this is really a NON-SOLUTION, SOLUTION. This is a case of the government making it look like they are doing something to reduce energy usage when what they are really doing is making another requirement for new home builders, and remodelers, to take care of at an increased cost to homeowner's without any benefit. New homes are already energy efficient. That's why they are now required to use energy efficient windows (dual glazed, low E glass, vinyl frame), high insulation values, dimmers on most lights in your home, fluorescent lighting in kitchens and baths, testing of heat ducts (or more efficient windows), etc.

Also, I believe that it won't be long before someone comes up with a way to (illegally?) overide the new thermostat by maybe blocking the signal or homeowners will become law breakers by changing out their new radio controlled thermosta to a non-radio controlled unit. Should we be stockpiling up on current thermostats? Where are they going to house all these new "lawbreakers" . Can the government come in a check your thermostat, at any time, to make sure you haven't changed it out? Just some thoughts.

Utilities already have the right to shut down service completely at your home - and your entire neighborhood in a system emergency when there is more demand than available power - it is called an outage - a blackout - everything, your computer, your TV, your refrigerator, your lights, the street lights, trafic lights - everything in the affected area. The new regulations give the utility a less severe option - instead of shutting off all of the power in your entire neighborhood, they can ask your thermostat to change its setpoint a few degrees to reduce immediate energy demand and avoid a complete blackout. Seems like a no brainer to me - I would rather have my thermostat change a couple of degrees for a short period of time that I probably won't even notice rather than have everything go off. Sure, we need adequate energy supplies - but unexpected events happen - storms, wildfires, earthquakes, a heat wave - any one of which could cause an emergency of the type that what otherwise would cause a widespread outage that now would instead make you a few degrees warmer under the proposed system (if you were even at home at the time). This is a great idea, it doesn't impinge on my privacy, it improves my quality of life (less outages) and should be supported.

I listened to the John and Ken show yesterday and was horrified by the California energy commissions’ proposal to take control of customers’ thermostats. Rather than focusing on solutions that increase electricity supply in California and identifying ways for consumers to reduce electricity consumption in their homes ( Thereby lowering their utility bills), they have decided to move in and take control of our household climate for us. There are products out in the market today that work with home AC systems to make them run much more efficiently and reduce electricity consumption, such as Cool-n-Save and Ice Bear. I'd prefer to invest in one of these technologies that help reduce my energy consumption and my bills rather than handing over control to some bureaucrat.