Engery management and building automation system

For use with a master controller, a secondary controller for reporting the operation of a plurality of electrical loads in a customer premises, comprising:

• means for communicating with the master controller;
• means for displaying messages to the customer;
• means for obtaining from the master controller historical energy consumption data for one or more loads;
• and
• means for generating, in response to a request, on the means for displaying, a report describing said historical energy consumption data.

A system for controlling the operation of an electrical load to connect said load to and disconnect said load from electrical mains under specified conditions, comprising:

• a. a first microcomputer including a first processor and first memory connected to intercommunicate and a first control program to control the execution of operations by the first microcomputer;
• b. a second microcomputer including a second processor and second memory connected to intercommunicate, user means for a user to provide input data and a second control program to control the execution of operations by the second microcomputer;
• c. at least one load control module which controls the condition of the load responsive to instructions from the first microcomputer, including at least instructions to connect the load to electrical mains and to disconnect the load from electrical mains;
• d. a communications channel;
• e. the first and second microcomputers and the load control module all being adapted to intercommunicate via the communications channel whereby the first microcomputer sends instructions to the load control module via the communications channel;
• f. responsive to input data provided to the second microcomputer by the user, the first computer program causing the first microcomputer to execute instructions which build in the first memory a database including for at least specified loads a user-supplied maximum rate the user is willing to pay for energy to operate the load;
• g. means for receiving from a energy provider an energy rate charge for operation of the load;
• and
• h. the first microcomputer executing instructions in the first computer program to obtain from the database said user-supplied maximum rate, to compare said maximum rate to the rate charge received from the electrical energy provider, and to send to the load control module instructions to disconnect the load from the electrical mains if and when the received rate exceeds the maximum rate.

A method for supplying information about usage, at the premises of a customer, of electrical energy supplied from an external source, comprising the steps of:

• a. metering electrical energy used at the premises to produce an energy consumption meter reading:
• b. at intervals, storing in a memory the meter reading;
• c. at intervals, measuring electrical power consumption by each of a plurality of load devices at the premises;
• d. storing in said memory, in association with the each said load device the electrical power consumption measurements therefor;
• e. associating in said memory, for each load device, information identifying the load device;
• and
• f. providing reports detailing, as a function of time, the electrical energy consumed by each said load device and by the premises as a whole.

A first microcomputer for use in conjunction with a second microcomputer to control the operation of a plurality of electrical loads in a customer premises, the second microcomputer being located at the customer premises and the first microcomputer being locatable in the vicinity of the customer premises and being locatable independently of the second microcomputer, comprising:

• means for receiving, from a communications link carrying messages from a source other than the second microcomputer, messages contain requests for implementing load shedding operations at the customer premises;
• means for receiving from the second microcomputer commands to establish user-determined criteria concerning the operation of loads;
• means for transmitting to load control modules messages to effectuate said load shedding operations only if the established user-determined criteria are satisfied:
• and
• means for collecting and storing data describing historical power or energy usage by the customer.

A system for controlling the operation of an electrical load at a premises to connect said load to and disconnect said load from electrical mains at determined times, comprising:

• a. a first microcomputer adapted to be sited in the vicinity of the premises, including a first processor and first memory connected to intercommunicate and a first control program to control the execution of operations by the first microcomputer;
• b. a second microcomputer for siting in the vicinity of the premises, including a second processor and second memory connected to intercommunicate, user means for a user to provide input data and a second control program to control the execution of operations by the second microcomputer;
• c. at least one load control module which controls the condition of the load responsive to instructions from the first microcomputer, including at least instructions to connect the load to electrical mains and to disconnect the load from electrical mains;
• d. a communications channel;
• e. the first and second microcomputers and the load control module all being adapted to intercommunicate via the communications channel whereby the first microcomputer sends instructions to the load control module via the communications channel;
• f. responsive to input data provided to the second microcomputer by the user, the first computer program causing the first microcomputer to execute instructions which build in the first memory a database of at least one of power and energy-price criteria associated with loads;
• and
• g. the first microcomputer executing instructions in the first computer program to obtain from the database said power and energy-price criteria and executing corresponding instructions to evaluate the criteria and send to the load control module instructions to connect the load to or disconnect the load from the mains when the criteria are satisfied.

A system for metering and controlling the operation of an electrical load at a premises to connect said load to and disconnect said load from electrical mains at determined times and to meter energy usage by said load, comprising:

• a. a first microcomputer adapted to be sited in the vicinity of the premises, including a first processor and first memory connected to intercommunicate and a first control program to control the execution of operations by the first microcomputer;
• b. a second microcomputer for siting in the vicinity of the premises, including a second processor and second memory connected to intercommunicate, user means for a user to provide input data and a second control program to control the execution of operations by the second microcomputer;
• c. at least one load control module which controls the condition of the load responsive to instructions from the first microcomputer, including at least instructions to connect the load to electrical mains and to disconnect the load from electrical mains;
• d. a communications channel;
• e. the first and second microcomputers and the load control module all being adapted to intercommunicate via the communications channel whereby the first microcomputer sends instructions to the load control module via the communications channel;
• f. responsive to input data provided to the second microcomputer by the user, the first computer program causing the first microcomputer to execute instructions which build in the first memory a database of load events to occur at predetermined times;
• g. the first microcomputer executing instructions in the first computer program to obtain from the database said load events at said predetermined times and executing corresponding instructions to send to the load control module instructions to connect the load to or disconnect the load from electrical mains;
• h. the second microcomputer including a database of load events to occur at predetermined times;
• i. an electrical energy consumption metering subsystem for metering, during successive determined intervals, the electrical energy consumed by the loads connected to the mains and for supplying a value for the energy metered, wherein the first microcomputer is operated to obtain from the metering subsystem and store in the database of the first microcomputer said metered values, indexed according to the succession of intervals;
• and wherein
• the second microcomputer is operated from time to time, when it is turned on, to transmit to the first microcomputer a request for a predetermined number of said metered values;
• the first microcomputer is operated, in response to receiving said request, to transmit to the second microcomputer any of said predetermined number of metered values not previously sent to the second microcomputer;
• and
• the second microcomputer, in response to receiving said metered values, modifies its database by adding thereto corresponding entries.