A week ago Ted Bayne, a member of the board of directors for the Vineyard Energy Project, got a call from a producer at CNN. She wanted to talk to him about being number seven on John McCain’s hit list.
“It was news to me,” said Mr. Bayne.
The news was true. On Dec. 8, Sen. John McCain, a Republican from Arizona, and Sen. Tom Coburn, a Republican from Oklahoma, unveiled their Stimulus Check-Up, a report outlining what they called the most wasteful projects in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or economic stimulus bill. Although Mr. Coburn acknowledged: “There’s no question we agree with the president that there needed to be a stimulus bill,” the senators cited 100 projects that they called “silly and shortsighted.” Special consideration was given to the top 10, number seven of which was a Program to Control Home Appliances from a Remote Location. Mr. McCain and Mr. Coburn depicted the program in the following imagined scenario:
“The next time residents of Martha’s Vineyard feel their house is too cold, they may be out of luck.” The program would, the report ominously intones, “allow an outside party to control [a homeowner’s] energy use Big Brother style.”
The CNN reporter had called Mr. Bayne to find out whether the claims were accurate, or simply politically motivated caricature.
Mr. Bayne called Mr. McCain’s appraisal of the project “snide and mocking.”
The $787,000 grant is to fund a pilot project where 50 Vineyard homeowners would be able to program settings for their appliances to respond to different energy load situations, using General Electric’s Home Energy Manager, a cutting-edge technology that is able to communicate with both utilities and home appliances. A homeowner programs different settings on the Home Energy Manager and participates in energy savings to the extent desirable. Homeowners also would also be able to override their settings at any time.
Mr. Bayne explained the distinction. “The critical point that McCain doesn’t really understand here is that the homeowner is not being told what to do by the utility. For instance . . . when utilities are at peak load a homeowner could say, ‘This is what I want my home appliances to do: turn my hot water heater to 110 degrees, turn off the dryer, or only have it do fluff, and don’t make ice in my freezer . . . There’s a schedule of responses that the homeowner has complete control over.”
In theory use of the Home Energy Manager would help utilities avoid having to turn on what is called spinning reserve by being able to adjust thousands of appliances at a time according to homeowners’ settings. A spinning reserve is an idle generator sometimes employed during peak usage.
Senator McCain paid no attention to this. In a press conference on Dec. 8 he reserved special derision for what he called, “the very economically deprived area of Martha’s Vineyard,” and attacked many of the programs in his report for failing to create jobs.
“This is really, really bad news for America’s taxpayers,” said Mr. McCain. A clip of the press conference can be viewed on YouTube.
In the short term the Vineyard Energy Project grant will provide some jobs to workers to retrofit meters. However, the money mainly funds more far-reaching research and development of software.
“R& D has a more long-term impact,” Mr. Bayne said. “We’re buying appliances from GE, we’re employing software engineers and ultimately, if this technology is successful, there’s going to be a huge impact on the economy because it means there will be pressure on people to buy new appliances and Home Energy Managers. Then all the utility companies in the country are going to have to come on board. So that’s what happens with R& D, the impact on employment is in the future.”
He said the federal government, as well as a handful of corporations such as GE, Google and Microsoft, have already invested millions of dollars in smart grid technology, and that many economists and environmentalists see it as a cornerstone of a responsible national energy conservation policy.
But he said he knows what Senator McCain and company are up to.
“I understand very well the way smear tactics work,” he said. “What they do is assume a level of stupidity on the part of the audience. It’s pretty ignorant. You get away with saying ridiculous things as long as the person you’re talking to doesn’t do the research.”
This article appears in December 25, 2009.
It is just another foolish project. No new jobs will be created either, not one.
Given Bayne’s suggestion that this program might have national or potentially global energy conservation implications, the price tag seems relatively small. Of course this is symbolic. Republicans, in this wonderful period of democratic control,must substitute symbolism for substance. McCain’s years of influence are numbered and his biggest problem is lack of relevance in his own party.
Smart metering is a good way to control costs of energy and eliminate waste. Apparently some of our representatives in our federal government are not aware of this. If you have a complaint about an issue send a letter or email to your congressman or senator. Then wait for a form letter – but you should not expect anything else. On top of that they sometimes will lie, because they know it works. In general, our representatives really are not very responsive to the public any more. “Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes fact in the Public mind.”
Adolph Hitler
There is a whole body of knowledge devoted to manipulation of the public mind. Do not imagine that elements in our government are not aware of this.
Correction:
“Net metering” should actually be “More efficient methods of metering and using electricity”
Thank you.
Merry Christmas
OR you could employ(at 35K plus benefits) 15 unemployed people and one licensed plumber to replace old water heaters with new Energy Star ones and replant 100,000 fruit trees in the state forest at the same time.
Perish the thought that you would actually create a job on Martha’s Vineyard that is year round and has benefits in one of the poorest counties in Massachusetts. You don’t have to be a genius-your own children don’t even want to live on the island. The idea has merit but would it have PRIORITY in the middle of February to a struggling vineyard family? Help from McCain-don’t hold your breath tax breaks never maintained a bridge. Pop Quiz:How many jobs has your idea or wealth created in 2009? Just answer the question-PLEASE!
“…if this technology is successful, there’s going to be a huge impact on the economy because it means there will be pressure on people to buy new appliances and Home Energy Managers.”
There it is – pressure people to buy new appliances…
I’m still trying to figure out the clunker math.
GE? Did I hear GE mentioned in this mess? Why don’t we just let the world’s largest corporation, GE, pay for the development of software that will ostensibly benefit them by helping increasing sales of their devices?
Save the stimulus money for real stimulus and energy savings, such as the water heater replacements already suggested. As for McCain’s snide comment about MV’s economic status, shame on him.
It seems that spending 16k per household to save some energy is a bit excessive. If we’re going to waste this money anyhow how about we pay homeowners to reduce thier enrgy useage. This savings to the consumer will benefit us all and keep some utility or government agency from controlling how we live our lives.
McCain is a moron. Such a small price for a potentially big payoff. Ever been to Arizona ? Can you spell Hell on Earth ? When its 110 degrees in the shade and there actually is no shade don’t you think for one minute that the Arizona utilities would want the same ability to help customers reduce their electric usage until the sun goes down ? McCain and his ilk are dinosaurs. If it didn’t exist when Leave it to Beaver was in primetime then we don’t need it.
My appliances, except for my oil burner, are all well under 10 years old. The refrigerators are energy-efficient. No way will I replace them until they kick the bucket!
The Vineyard is a perfect proving ground for such innovative energy saving pilot projects. If is can work on an Island of this size, it could possibly be scaled to the larger “Island” of the mainland. This “Island” analogy also applies to our planet. McCain is shortsighted in his analysis and his snide remarks about MV show the partisan business as usual side of DC. The largest Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in the world is taking place right now. Here is the latest news from the show: “CES: Home Energy Management A Hot Topic At The Show” http://ces.cnet.com/8301-31045_1-10426301-269.html?tag=mncol;txt