Smart Grid Blog

The Onzo Smart Energy Kit sure looks handy, providing to-the-second energy usage updates from anywhere in the house. It’s UK-only, but there’s nothing about its wireless display that we couldn’t (or shouldn’t) do right here in the US of A.

via Wireless Onzo Smart Energy Kit Enables Portable Power-Nagging – Smart energy kit – Gizmodo.

iSave? Apple is going after the low-hanging fruit, and mulling a move into the energy management market. The company is developing a system to help you regulate and decrease the amount of power you use in your home. As a bonus, the system would boost the wireless signal in your abode. Close to 25 percent of all the energy used in the United States is used by residential properties, so this could have a big impact. Not to mention all the people who have smart phones, laptops and other wireless devices (and are sick of dead spots).

via Apple May Help Slice Home Energy Use With Smart Grid Project : TreeHugger.

Every once in a while we’re given powerful insights into systems that could be game changers - and while not apparently sexy at the moment, Apple surprises us with a peek at their coming Smart Home Energy Management Dashboard System that packs a punch. Apple’s patent reviews technology related to this system that many simply know as HomePlug Powerline Networking.  HomePlug Powerline Networking turns every power outlet in your home or office into a conduit for audio, video and data. Wireless technologies could be prone to dead-spots and fading – but with HomePlug certified adapters you just plug them in and within minutes you have high speed internet coming out of every plug in the house. You could do the same thing for HDTV and iTunes. Get ready folks, because this looks like Apple is ramping this up for sometime in the near future. And, let it be said, could be yet another tablet application.

via Apple Reveals Smart-Home Energy Management Dashboard System – Patently Apple.

GE (NYSE: GE) is introducing an in-home, multi-function energy information panel that will give consumers insight and control to help them manage energy usage and understand costs. The sleek, touch-screen panel will wirelessly connect to a household’s smart meter, appliances and thermostats, via ZigBee or Wi-Fi, to gather information, manage usage and deliver the real-time knowledge that empowers smarter energy choices.

via GE Smart Home-Energy Panel Tells Consumers What’s Happening with Their Power Profile.

In case you don’t have enough high-tech gadgets, next year you’ll be able to buy one that offers an interesting array of information, reports earth2tech. Whirlpool, Best Buy, energy reseller Direct Energy, and developer OpenPeak are planning to launch an energy information display, called the Home Energy Management (HEM) center. The HEM will be unveiled at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show on January 7.

via Whirlpool, Best Buy, and Others Collaborate on Energy Information Display | HeatingOil.com.

While 2009 was the year that startups, smart grid firms and venture capitalists decided to move into the home energy management market, 2010 could be the year that the consumer electronics players make their moves. Energy reseller Direct Energy and a group of gadget heavyweights, including appliance maker Whirlpool, retail group Best Buy, and gadget developer OpenPeak, tell us they plan to launch a home energy management device dubbed the Home Energy Management (HEM) center at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show on January 7.

via Direct Energy, Gadget Group to Launch Energy Device at CES.

Go green and save money on energy costs with the Black & Decker EM100B Energy Saver Series Power Monitor. This compact, easy-to-install device lets you track the amount of electricity that your household uses–and the costs of that usage–in real time. This monitor can help you reduce your energy consumption and decrease your monthly bills while helping the environment.

via The newest of gadgets: Black & Decker EM100B Energy Saver Series Power Monitor.