Honeywell says its UtilityPRO has become the fastest-selling thermostat for utility-sponsored demand-response (DR) programs. Since the technology was introduced in 2008, Honeywell has shipped more than 350,000 of the touchscreen programmable thermostats, which give utilities control over peak consumption. 33 utilities in the States and Canada have selected the thermostat for their DR efforts. By 2011, Honeywell expects UtilityPRO will give these utilities combined control of more than 500MW of peak energy use—equivalent to the generation capacity of about 10 gas-fired peaking plants. UtilityPRO allows utilities to cycle air-conditioners on and off for brief intervals when energy use and prices spike, usually on the hottest days of the year. Utilities can also use more sophisticated strategies like temporarily increasing set points or pre-cooling a premise prior to a demand response event.

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