Demand responses are the amount of mechanisms used from customers to reduce the use of electricity on peak time and shifting demand for electricity to non peak periods. The price of electricity consumption is changed over the time in order to make costumers use less energy during the peak time when the price of electricity is higher.

 

Companies and individuals use energy every day for lightening, heating and cooling system, operating manufactures and more. To sustain energy recourses we need to use them wisely. To manage these resources we have to reduce the energy used, and use energy efficiency technology. This way we will increase the quality of the environment and everyone’s lives. Energy efficiency is the use of technology that requires less energy.

           

Demand responses are also the use of the control systems to shed loads in response to a request by an automated utility.

Demand response is used to refer to mechanisms used to encourage consumers to reduce demand, thereby reducing the peak demand for electricity.

Peak demand is the maximum demand on an electric system in a period of time.

Peak load management is an economic reduction of electric energy demand during a utility’s peak period.

Today there are many technologies that operate automatically. For example in Toronto Canada the system operator in certain residential users can automatically control air conditioning during peak demand allowing peaking plants to cycle up and the consumers benefit from this program because they have the lower price during the peak.

          

  Sheding loads during peak demand is important because it reduces the need for new power plants. The utility “owns the switch”, which goes off and sheds load only when the electrical distribution system is threatened. In a free market, the price of energy varies widely throughout the day, every day. Demand Response programs such as those enabled by smart grids attempt to encourage the consumer to limit usage of elecricity.         

 

The largest residential load control system in the world is found in the United States, in Florida. It has been able to avoid the construction of numerous new power plants. Smaller utilities which buy power instead of generating their own, find that they can also benefit by installing a load control system.

 

http://www.pge.com/mybusiness/energysavingsrebates/demandresponse/whatisdemandresponse/

 

http://www.ferc.gov/legal/staff-reports/09-07-demand-response.pdf

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demand_response