Source: USA Today/AP
Vice President Biden estimates that 40 million U.S. homes could have smart meters by 2015, up from about 8 million now, but a new study questions how much good that will do. “Smart meters in and of themselves are just not ’smart’ enough to get the job done for consumers and our economy,” says John A. “Skip” Laitner, director of economic and social analysis at the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, which produced the report. If U.S. utilities went beyond “smart meters” to give customers detailed information about how they’re using power, Americans could cut home electric use as much as 12% and save at least $35 billion over the next 20 years, reports ACEEE, a non-profit advocacy group. “Consumers need things like motivation,” Laitner says.
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