GE's involvement with the Smart Grid involves a number of different approaches and businesses. One piece of the GE portfolio that allows consumers to interact with and take advantage of an ever-evolving and “smarter” electricity grid is a line of smart appliances, developed by GE Appliances & Lighting. These appliances are a new generation of products that not only incorporate the best in consumer appliance design trends but are also “smarter” than the average appliance. The products are demand response enabled — meaning that they can take in information and adjust how they perform depending on consumer needs.
Looking at energy efficiency, the Appliances & Lighting business is already ahead of the curve as efficiency standards have become more stringent and the business has worked to meet — and in some cases exceed — those guidelines. As the incremental benefits from energy efficiency improvements diminish, the challenge becomes identifying completely new growth areas that provide benefits to both consumers and society as a whole.
Appliances & Lighting decided to focus on better understanding consumer attitudes and the challenges facing the electric grid. Utilities are struggling with an increase in consumer demand, rising energy costs during peak loads and difficulties in building new infrastructure to generate power. They are looking for a way to move demand on the electric grid to low peak times. In addition, consumers are becoming more environmentally aware, but they still want to save money on electricity costs without sacrificing their lifestyle. The business saw an opportunity to meet the needs of both consumers and utilities by making energy efficient appliances even “smarter.”
“We have developed a suite of smart appliances with the goal of giving consumers complete control over their utility use and cost,” said Dave McCalpin, chief marketing officer for GE Appliances. “The appliances will communicate with smart meters and when the appliances receive a pricing signal from the utility, they can change their behavior to save consumers money. But the consumer can override the activity, like delaying washing dishes or cooking with reduced wattage, and use the appliances as they would normally.”
In order to develop the smart appliances, gain consumer insights and collect key data, Appliances & Lighting developed a pilot program with local utility Louisville Gas & Electric (LG&E) in Louisville, Kentucky, to place prototype smart appliances in 10 to 15 homes. Understanding how consumers prefer to control and interface with these appliances was critical to the design process.
One thing Appliances & Lighting learned during the pilot program is that the GE smart appliances must operate in harmony with other products throughout the home to maximize results and achieve consumer satisfaction. So the business has been actively engaging with consumers, local government entities and other businesses to continue to drive innovation and better solutions for consumers through open discussion, standard setting and other opportunities.
As Dave noted, “When you are in the lead, you have the responsibility to do the right thing. And the right thing is what is best for the consumer.”