Subject: New list: RECIPE (Reducing Energy Consumption with Internet Protocols Exploration)

From: Henning Schulzrinne <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:03:21 -0400

Based on some very preliminary discussions in Dublin, I've set up a  
new discussion list to talk about the intersection of Internet  
protocols and energy management. The goal is NOT how to make  
protocols, routers or servers more energy-efficient, but rather how to  
use Internet (application) protocols to better manage energy consumers  
and (local) producers. There has been a fair amount of work in this  
area, but mostly focused on lower layers, such as ZigBee. The initial  
goal of the discussion is to identify whether there is a need for work  
here or not. I'm also in discussion with a major local utility.

The discussion will take place at [email-masked], with subscription  
details at https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/recipe

A bit more detail is below:

In the next few years, the demands on the electric grid will change  
substantially. New power sources, such as wind and solar, delivery  
varying amounts of power based on the time of day, while new  
consumers, such as plug-in hybrids, impose additional demands. Local  
generators, such as small-scale solar and wind turbines, can produce  
additional energy. Grid control can better match energy supply and  
demand, and flatten peak usage by deferring non-time-critical demands  
to low-usage times. For example, an office building can use low-cost  
off-peak energy to produce ice, which is then melted during the day to  
provide air conditioning. In the home, dishwashers and washing  
machines can defer their operation. There has even been discussion of  
using plug-in hybrids as energy storage devices that charge their  
batteries at night and release energy to the power grid during the  
peak usage periods.

In addition, end users need to be able to determine easily what  
devices are consuming how much energy. For example, energy monitoring  
may alert a homeowner that a hot water pipe is leaking or that an AC  
air vent has been disconnected.

All of these new usages demand a much smarter grid that interacts with  
power consumers and producers at the edges of the grid. With near- 
universal broadband and wireless data network deployments, this is  
becoming quite feasible. Given the diversity of consumer and  
industrial products that need to be controlled, we need standardized,  
light-weight protocols that can provide core control functions.

We envision at least three core functions related to energy control:

(1) A device should be able to query a grid controller to get  
permission to start operation. It would obtain a time-of-day when the  
device should start operation (or ask again). The query may indicate a  
"class-of-service", such as off-peak tariff.

(2) The grid controller may ask a household or company to reduce its  
energy consumption to a certain level for load management during peak  
power periods. The household or company would then shut down non- 
essential consumers or defer energy-consuming tasks, such as hot-water  
heating or vehicle charging.

(3) A controller can ask a device about its power usage or total  
energy consumption.

Particularly for the first two cases, devices need to be able to  
discover their energy controller, since different consumers within the  
same region may use different distribution or energy management  
companies. Particularly for the second case of grid-controlled  
devices, strong authentication is needed to prevent malicious or  
accidental shutdown of electrical systems.

---

Henning

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