Finding the better way: readers discuss technical issues.(YOUR LETTERS: OUR READERS SPEAK OUT)(Letter to the editor)

The article on TVSS technology produced-as expected-a number of letters. One heavily edited letter and response are illustrative. We also have a reader helping to raise our expectations for energy.

Dear Editor:

I'm especially interested in what Jack McGowan's column "Energy Success Story" (June 2007) had to say about smart meters and the automatic meter reading technology (ARM). This all reminds me of how Wal-Mart pioneered RFID.

Allow me to now point you to what Energy Service and Technology inc. and Winn Energy Company (WEC) are now doing with RF transceivers, as part of a digital controller/"bolt-on" solution. It can be expanded at any time by adding additional control modules including, HVAC, lighting, submetering, or signal monitoring/alarming. What is amazing to me is that these independent control units can be configured to remotely control, monitor, and alarm from a central computer server (like Wal-Mart) using a number of communication links. These links allow connection to an existing internet server via a frequency-hopping radio transceivers that form a cellular based wireless communications network to connect to almost most any WAN gateway technology.

The significant thing about the WEC is that it allows monitoring, bi-directional communications and control, and fault/problem diagnostics. ...