Patent ID: 7418428
Filing Date: 2008-08-26
Classification: F24F,G05B,G06Q,H02J,H04L,Y02B,Y04S

Abstract:
1. A method for providing at least one energy management program to a utility of a commodity, the energy management program aimed at managing demand for the commodity, the utility delivering the commodity to a plurality of customer sites, each customer site having a plurality of devices which use the commodity and a node associated with each device, including the steps of: defining the energy management program at the utility having a subset of the plurality of devices for which usage of the commodity may be managed by activating the energy management program, wherein the subset of devices includes all devices of a similar type at the plurality of customer sites; delivering the commodity to the subset of devices; measuring the instantaneous rate at the device at which the commodity is being delivered to each device of the subset of devices; sending the instantaneous rate for each device within the subset to the utility in real time; determining at the utility, in real time, a capacity associated with the delivery of the commodity to the subset of devices which may be available for management by activating the energy management program; selectively activating the energy management program at the utility to manage the usage of the commodity by the subset of devices; and measuring at least one of a rate and a change in the rate at which the commodity is being delivered to the subset of devices after activation of the energy management program such that the utility can verify, in real time, management of the commodity usage following activation of the program.