EXCLUSIVE: Intel Australia who has spent the last six months talking to Australian Utility companies about their new home energy management system is close to getting a major deal from one major Australian operator after extensive real time testing.
The technology exclusively revealed by SmartHouse in January during our CES coverage could result in Australians getting accurate real time bills based on power metre reading over the Internet.
Currently hundreds of homes in the Hunter Valley in NSW are using the Intel based technology as part of an Energy Australia project.
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This week the US processor Company added Smart TV capabilities to their offering. They are also working on a new TV remote control that will automatically recognise who you are when you pick it up via the inclusion of motion sensors that every 100 nanoseconds log how often you use it and then build and ID out of the information they have captured.
The remote will let you view content suited to your viewing habits, it can also be programmed to stop children watching adult TV shows.
Their new energy management system is built around Atom processors, embedded into a home dashboard that measures temperature, line voltage and power usage.
As part of the deal the new technology will be OEM branded in the name of the utility Company. It will also overcome billing issues by delivering real time information over the Internet to a central billing system.
According to Phil Cronin the General Manager of Intel Australia the technology is “real”.
“We are currently working with Energy Australia in the Hunter Valley where hundreds of homes are connected to the grid using our technology. This is a real project that has two distinct benefits. For business we deliver an excellent way to manage energy including billing and content information. For consumer we are giving them technology that allows them to clearly see their energy use. We are also introducing new technology that delivers for home owners additional benefits such as being able to run Internet via existing power cables in the home”.
The wall mounted Intel “Smart Monitor Dashboard” which will be installed in Australian homes was first shown to SmartHouse at the 20120 CES show allows users to access their home’s energy use information and perform other functions, such as video messaging with a built-in camera. The dashboard can also be set to enter a low-power “sleep” mode and if connected to a solar grid system manage the flow of power back and forth from the grid overnight.
Intel has also developed sensors that plug into outlets at each end of the house to measure line voltage and detect appliances other applications being worked on is the delivery of high speed broadband over electricity cables . This will allow fibre to be connected to homes and then transported to connected devices over power cables as opposed to Ethernet cables.
“We didn’t want to design an energy-saving device that wasn’t energy-efficient,” says Ryan Parker, director of marketing for Intel’s embedded and communications group.
According to Parker, Intel’s sensors are unique and look for fluctuations in the line voltage. While measuring temperature and humidity the sensors can also detect the performance f a clothes dryer or washing machine to make sure they are using the lowest amount of power at the cheapest cost.
This claims Parker, makes the energy data a user is receiving richer, better and more relevant.
Intel’s HEMS will use ZigBee’s Smart Energy Profile 2.0 IP-based protocol and will send signals over ZigBee, WI Fi and Powerline.
Mary Murphy-Hoye, the senior principal Engineer of Intel’s embedded computing group, recently installed sensors throughout her home, built a home-energy monitoring system, and demoed the data and interface to monitor temperature, humidity, light and energy sensors.
