Patent ID: 7894946

Claim:
An apparatus for managing an energy consuming load in a group of energy consuming loads comprising the load and a plurality of other loads, the apparatus comprising: (a) a transmitter configured to transmit a set of load state data generated from the load; (b) a receiver configured to receive sets of load state data generated from the other loads; (c) a processor configured to generate the set of load state data from the load, to compile the set of load state data from the load with the sets of load state data from the other loads, and to process the compiled sets of load state data in order to make an enablement state decision for the load, wherein the enablement state decision reflects an enablement state of the load, wherein the enablement state is either a load enabled state or a load disabled state, and wherein the enablement state decision of the load is made independently of the enablement state decisions of the other loads without negotiation amongst the load and the other loads and without regard to the enablement state decisions affecting the other loads; and (d) a controller for implementing the enablement state decision.