DIRECT-TO-CONSUMER CHALLENGES FOR ENCOURAGING ENERGY CONSCIOUS BEHAVIOR

• US 20140371939A1
• Filed: 09/02/2014
• Published: 12/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/02/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Weaver, Jason C., Kayton, Bradley A.
• Application Number:
  US14/475,274
• Publication Number:
  US 20140371939A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/295
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/30 for purposes related to the operation of the system, e.g. for safety or monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/46 Improving electric energy efficiency or saving
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/52 Indication arrangements, e.g. displays
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/56 Remote control
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/62 characterised by the type of control or by internal processing, e.g. using fuzzy logic, adaptive control or estimation of values
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/63 Electronic processing
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/64 using pre-stored data
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2110/10 Temperature
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2110/12 of the outside air
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2110/20 Humidity
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2130/00 Control inputs relating to environmental factors not covered by group F24F2110/00
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2130/10 Weather information or forecasts
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2130/20 Sunlight
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2140/60 Energy consumption
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/34306 Power down, energy saving
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 23/1917 using digital means
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 23/1927 using a plurality of sensors G05D23/1902, G05D23/1917, and G05D23/1919 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05F 1/66 Regulating electric power
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06314 Calendaring for a resource
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0257 : User requested
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 : Energy or water supply
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 19/00 : Teaching not covered by other main groups of this subclass teaching or practice apparatus for gun-aiming or gun-laying F41G3/26
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/02 : with visual presentation of the material to be studied, e.g. using film strip
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/14 : The load or loads being home appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/00 : Circuit arrangements for ac mains or ac distribution networks
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/14 : by switching loads on to, or off from, network, e.g. progressively balanced loading
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/12 : Arrangements for remote connection or disconnection of substations or of equipment thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2816 : Controlling appliance services of a home automation network by calling their functionalities arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station; in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom H04Q9/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2827 : Reporting to a device within the home network; wherein the reception of the information reported automatically triggers the execution of a home appliance functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2829 : involving user profiles according to which the execution of a home appliance functionality is automatically triggered
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 : comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 : in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 : specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/30 : using a wired architecture
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/43 : using wireless personal area networks [WPAN], e.g. 802.15, 802.15.1, 802.15.4, Bluetooth or ZigBee
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/60 : for transmitting utility meters data, i.e. transmission of data from the reader of the utility meter
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 9/00 : Arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 : Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/00 : Wireless channel access
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 70/30 : Systems integrating technologies related to power network operation and communication or information technologies for improving the carbon footprint of the management of residential or tertiary loads, i.e. smart grids as climate change mitigation technology in the buildings sector, including also the last stages of power distribution and the control, monitoring or operating management systems at local level
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 : in wireless communication networks
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/82 : Energy audits or management systems therefor
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/20 : End-user application control systems
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 50/14 : Marketing, i.e. market research and analysis, surveying, promotions, advertising, buyer profiling, customer management or rewards

Abstract

Accessing an energy management policy for a plurality of devices is described, wherein the devices are coupled with a first structure. The energy usage of the devices is monitored. An energy usage rule and energy usage is then compared. The energy management policy and energy usage is also compared. Based on the comparing, an instruction is generated to modify an energy usage profile of said device to correlate with the energy usage rule associated with the devices and the energy management policy, thereby enabling efficient energy management.

Claims

1. A system for conserving energy consumption of an energy consuming device associated with an enclosure, comprising:

an energy management module; and

an energy measurement module communicatively coupled to the energy management module and configured to;

monitor an energy consumption amount indicative of an amount of energy consumed by the energy consuming device, and

transmit energy consumption information indicative of the energy consumption amount to the energy management module;

the energy management module being configured to;

receive the energy consumption information from the energy measurement module,

calculate an adjustment to an operation of the energy consuming device, the adjustment being operable to reduce the amount of energy consumed by the energy consuming device,

generate a challenge message that includes the calculated adjustment to the operation of the energy consuming device, and

communicate the challenge message to a user to prompt the user to make the calculated adjustment to the operation of the energy consuming device.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a control module operatively coupled to the energy consuming device,

wherein the energy management module is further configured to;

receive an input from the user in response to the challenge message,

generate a signal to make the calculated adjustment to the operation of the energy consuming device based on the input, and

transmit the signal to the control module,

the control module being configured to;

receive the signal from the energy management module, and

control the operation of the energy consuming device in accordance with the calculated adjustment in response to receiving the signal.

3. The system of claim 2, further comprising:

a temperature sensor communicatively coupled to the energy management module and configured to;

measure a temperature of the enclosure, and

transmit the temperature of the enclosure to the energy management module,

wherein the energy management module generates the signal to make the calculated adjustment to the operation of the energy consuming device further based on the temperature of the enclosure, and

wherein the energy consuming device is a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) unit.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a messaging server system communicatively coupled to the energy management module and configured to;

receive the challenge message from the energy management module,

convert the challenge message to at least one of an email message and a short message service (SMS) message, and

transmit the converted challenge message to the user.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a voice user interface communicatively coupled to the energy management module,

wherein the challenge message is communicated vocally to the user via the voice user interface.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a graphical user interface communicatively coupled to the energy management module.

7. A method for conserving energy consumption of an energy consuming device associated with an enclosure, comprising:

monitoring, via an energy measurement module, an energy consumption amount indicative of an amount of energy consumed by the energy consuming device, the energy measurement module being communicatively coupled to an energy management module;

transmitting energy consumption information indicative of the energy consumption amount from the energy measurement module to the energy management module;

calculating an adjustment to an operation of the energy consuming device, the adjustment being operable to reduce the amount of energy consumed by the energy consuming device;

generating a challenge message that includes the calculated adjustment to the operation of the energy consuming device; and

communicating the challenge message to a user to prompt the user to make the calculated adjustment to the operation of the energy consuming device.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

generating an incentive for the user for making the calculated adjustment to the operation of the energy consuming device; and

communicating the incentive to the user.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving information regarding the user, wherein the incentive is generated in context of the information regarding the user.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein communicating the challenge message includes transmitting the challenge message to a mobile device of the user via a wireless communication channel.

11. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

calculating an estimated cost savings amount resulting from making the calculated adjustment to the operation of the energy consuming device; and

communicating the estimated cost savings amount to the user.

12. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

storing a history of energy consumption information for the energy consuming device;

determining an energy consumption trend based on the history of energy consumption information for the energy consuming device; and

comparing the energy consumption trend to a desired energy usage profile for the energy consuming device,

wherein the adjustment to the operation of the energy consuming device is calculated based on the comparing.

13. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving a user defined energy expense budget; and

comparing the energy consumption information to the user defined energy expense budget,

wherein the adjustment to the operation of the energy consuming device is calculated based on the comparing.

14. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving a rate schedule including a plurality of time periods and a per unit energy price associated with each time period,

wherein the adjustment to the operation of the energy consuming device is calculated based on the rate schedule, and

wherein the adjustment to the operation of the energy consuming device adjusts a time that the energy consuming device is in operation.

15. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving an input from the user in response to the challenge message.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

modifying a desired energy usage profile for the energy consuming device in response to receiving the input from the user.

17. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

storing a history of user inputs,

wherein the adjustment to the operation of the energy consuming device is calculated based on the history of user inputs.

18. A system for conserving energy consumption of an energy consuming device associated with an enclosure, comprising:

means for monitoring, via an energy measurement module, an energy consumption amount indicative of an amount of energy consumed by the energy consuming device, the energy measurement module being communicatively coupled to an energy management module;

means for transmitting energy consumption information indicative of the energy consumption amount from the energy measurement module to the energy management module;

means for calculating an adjustment to an operation of the energy consuming device, the adjustment being operable to reduce the amount of energy consumed by the energy consuming device;

means for generating a challenge message that includes the calculated adjustment to the operation of the energy consuming device; and

means for communicating the challenge message to a user to prompt the user to make the calculated adjustment to the operation of the energy consuming device.

19. The system of claim 18, further comprising:

means for storing a history of energy consumption for the energy consuming device;

means for generating a desired energy usage profile for the energy consuming device based on the history of energy consumption; and

means for comparing the energy consumption information to the desired energy usage profile,

wherein the adjustment to the operation of the energy consuming device is calculated based on the comparing.

20. The system of claim 18, further comprising:

means for receiving a device identification of the energy consuming device; and

means for retrieving device information for the energy consuming device using the device identification,

wherein the adjustment to the operation of the energy consuming device is calculated based on the device information.