Smart Thermostats, Automation, and Time-Varying Prices
通过随机鼓励家庭激活智能恒温器的自动化功能，研究自动化如何补充经济激励，发现自动化能低成本改变家庭用电行为，减少高峰用电并降低电力供应成本。
Can automation complement economic incentives? We explore this question by randomly encouraging households to activate a feature on their existing smart thermostat that automates responsiveness to time-of-use electricity pricing. The feature reduces air conditioning use during the highest-priced afternoon period, raising indoor temperatures above a household's preferred temperature, primarily for customers who are typically home during the day. Customers infrequently override the feature when they experience discomfort, suggesting that they are willing to trade off monetary savings for small increases in discomfort. Automation thus enables low-cost changes in household energy use, with potentially large electricity supply-cost reductions at scale.