General Electric has a vision of the home of the future, and it involves smart meters and appliances designed to save energy and money.
Running your oven from a touch screen, anyone?
That's what GE partly hopes to accomplish with its Smart Grid technology that provides information on a real time basis.
Your appliances will get information about the cost of your power, and you'll have it preset to run in energy conservation mode at certain times.
GE leaders showed off the technology to reporters, arguing it could attract people concerned about money during this most recent recession - and about the environment, with energy prices likely to rise if the United States passes aggressive cap-and-trade legislation.
Each residential smart meter would cost about $150. Smart appliances would be an additional $10 above normal prices.
With information then being shared with the utility, a number of potential customers have raised privacy concerns, which GE is claiming to be addressing.
GE may start to introduce Smart Meters in homes over the next decades, with smart appliances as soon as next year.
