On Wed, 15 Aug 2012 14:53:00 -0700, Jon Danniken
wrote:

On 08/08/2012 01:50 PM, zzzzzzzzzz wrote:

Absolutely right. The only way to save any energy is to decrease the average
delta-T (make it warmer in the house). Otherwise, you're just shifting *when*
the compressor is running, not how much. I don't see how shifting it by ten
minutes helps either. It'll just draw more power (than it otherwise would
have) later.

Shifting the draw by ten minutes will make an effect if there are tens
of thousands of units controlled centrally. In such a situation,
staggering compressor draw will serve to even out the load across both a
local, as well as a larger area. Since the grid is already pushed
pretty far into its capacity, this helps to alleviate brownout
conditions, which, from my understanding, is the rationale behind their
scheme.

Sure, you push the load back ten minutes. Now what?