A power controller configured to fit in a circuit breaker panel powering one or more loads. The power controller is further configured to manage critical loads of the one or more loads each controlled by a component that is capable of being actuated by the power controller and operated from a smartphone via the power controller, wherein the critical loads need not be wired to a dedicated circuit breaker panel.

A two-wire load control device (such as, a dimmer switch) for controlling the amount of power delivered from an AC power source to an electrical load (such as, a high-efficiency lighting load) includes a thyristor coupled between the source and the load, a gate coupling circuit coupled between a first main load terminal and the gate of the thyristor, and a control circuit coupled to a control input of the gate coupling circuit. The control circuit generates a drive voltage for causing the gate coupling circuit to conduct a gate current to thus render the thyristor conductive at a firing time during a half cycle of the AC power source, and to allow the gate coupling circuit to conduct the gate current at any time from the firing time through approximately the remainder of the half cycle, where the gate coupling circuit conducts approximately no net average current to render and maintain the thyristor conductive.

An intelligent circuit breaker is electrically capable of dimming a load using sine wave dimming and forward or reverse cut-phase dimming. The intelligent circuit breaker may include low on resistance transistors switching at a 100 kHZ or higher using pulse width modulation to achieve the sine wave dimming while filtering out the high frequency switching and allowing a line frequency pass through. The intelligent circuit breaker may include a wireless module for receiving one or commands to perform power dimming of the load. The intelligent circuit breaker may advantageously be constructed in a form factor which is compatible with standard circuit breaker panels.

A group of homes, businesses, or other electric power consuming premises are aggregated and commonly controlled to dynamically reduce loads in sufficient quantities, and with sufficient rapidity and duration, to participate as a market participant in the energy markets including participating as a peaking power plant. While the amount of reduced power consumption for a single premises is typically quite small, the total reduced consumption of an aggregation of just a few thousand homes or businesses may be on the order of hundreds of kilowatts. A premises power controller in conjunction with intelligent circuit breakers, which may include dimmers, enable dynamic management of individual loads in each premises.

An intelligent circuit breaker electrically is capable of being actuated and interfacing with a conventional circuit breaker. The intelligent circuit breaker includes a wireless transceiver for communicating with other intelligent circuit breakers, a breaker controller, memory, and a display. The memory may be used to temporarily store data of interest regarding the intelligent circuit breaker's status, power consumption, operating history, and the like. The intelligent circuit breaker may advantageously be constructed in a form factor which is compatible with standard circuit breaker panels.

A two-wire load control device (such as, a dimmer switch) for controlling the amount of power delivered from an AC power source to an electrical load (such as, a high-efficiency lighting load) includes a thyristor coupled between the source and the load, a gate coupling circuit coupled between a first main load terminal and the gate of the thyristor, and a control circuit coupled to a control input of the gate coupling circuit. The control circuit generates a drive voltage for causing the gate coupling circuit to conduct a gate current to thus render the thyristor conductive at a firing time during a half cycle of the AC power source, and to allow the gate coupling circuit to conduct the gate current at any time from the firing time through approximately the remainder of the half cycle, where the gate coupling circuit conducts approximately no net average current to render and maintain the thyristor conductive.

A group of homes, businesses, or other electric power consuming premises are aggregated and commonly controlled to dynamically reduce loads in sufficient quantities, and with sufficient rapidity and duration, to participate as a market participant in the energy markets including participating as a peaking power plant. While the amount of reduced power consumption for a single premises is typically quite small, the total reduced consumption of an aggregation of just a few thousand homes or businesses may be on the order of hundreds of kilowatts. A premises power controller in conjunction with intelligent circuit breakers, which may include dimmers, enable dynamic management of individual loads in each premises.

A group of homes, businesses, or other electric power consuming premises are aggregated and commonly controlled to dynamically reduce loads in sufficient quantities, and with sufficient rapidity and duration, to participate as a market participant in the energy markets including participating as a peaking power plant. While the amount of reduced power consumption for a single premises is typically quite small, the total reduced consumption of an aggregation of just a few thousand homes or businesses may be on the order of hundreds of kilowatts. A premises power controller in conjunction with intelligent circuit breakers, which may include dimmers, enable dynamic management of individual loads in each premises.

A two-wire load control device (such as, a dimmer switch) for controlling the amount of power delivered from an AC power source to an electrical load (such as, a high-efficiency lighting load) includes a thyristor coupled between the source and the load, a gate coupling circuit coupled between a first main load terminal and the gate of the thyristor, and a control circuit coupled to a control input of the gate coupling circuit. The control circuit generates a drive voltage for causing the gate coupling circuit to conduct a gate current to thus render the thyristor conductive at a firing time during a half cycle of the AC power source, and to allow the gate coupling circuit to conduct the gate current at any time from the firing time through approximately the remainder of the half cycle, where the gate coupling circuit conducts approximately no net average current to render and maintain the thyristor conductive.

A two-wire load control device (such as, a dimmer switch) for controlling the amount of power delivered from an AC power source to an electrical load (such as, a high-efficiency lighting load) includes a thyristor coupled between the source and the load, a gate coupling circuit coupled between a first main load terminal and the gate of the thyristor, and a control circuit coupled to a control input of the gate coupling circuit. The control circuit generates a drive voltage for causing the gate coupling circuit to conduct a gate current to thus render the thyristor conductive at a firing time during a half cycle of the AC power source, and to allow the gate coupling circuit to conduct the gate current at any time from the firing time through approximately the remainder of the half cycle, where the gate coupling circuit conducts approximately no net average current to render and maintain the thyristor conductive.