Smart Home Blog

Good news for all UK inhabitants who’d like to control their electricity consumption. Producer of DIY home security system AlertMe announced its new product – AlertMe Energy which will be supported by Google PowerMeter service. The AlertMe Energy contains two parts – Meter Reader clipped onto the home’s electricity meter to measure the energy consumption, and Hub plugged to the into the home broadband connection to transmit received data from the meter to the AlertMe web service and now – to the Google PowerMeter. The Meter Reader and Hub communicate each other via ZigBee.

The price of the AlertMe Energy is £69.00 and £2.99 per month for the online service. Well, personally I like TED 5000 more because it doesn’t need any subscription fees. But it can be used in US only as I understand. In any case the partnership with Google is a clever move for AlertMe. Because their security system is too expensive taking into account its limitations. New energy monitoring product can help AlertMe get more customers and keep existing ones.

The next generation of The Energy Detective or TED – device to measure energy consumption is coming soon. The new 5000 series looks pretty cool. It’s split on three parts – measurement module, network gateway and display. The core of the system is gateway. It receives data about energy consumption from the measurement module via power line and keeps it internally. The gateway can transmit then data to the TED 5000 Display via ZigBee or to the PC via LAN where real-time and historical data can be viewed using TED Footprints software.

Additionally the users will able to use TED Footprints API. This gives a possibility to integrate TED 5000 into their home automation system and use the same interface to view energy consumption data.

The basic package of new TED 5000 is tagged at $199.95 and doesn’t include TED 5000 Display (which is fine for integration). If you need the display you should pay $40 more. There are also special packages for the homeowners who have solar or wind generation systems with additional sensors to monitor them.

I like TED 5000 conception. It provides much more flexibility then previous 1000 series. The price is also reasonable. The only one big disadvantage it had – it cannot be used in Europe. Will wait for adopted version of the TED 5000 or similar set situated here.

Google announced its new web service – PowerMeter. AS you may understand from its name the main goal of that service is to provide a way for consumers reduce their electricity bill amount and carbon footprint by making smart decisions about energy use.

The idea is not so new. There is a bunch of energy meters on the market. But the biggest advantage of PowerMeter is an integration between device and web service which allow to analyse data, store statics and represent results in the easy understandable format like charts or graphs. Additionally the energy consumption data can be shared with relatives, friends or neighbours.

Currently the Google PowerMeter is a closed beta program. As I understand the main problem to make it public is the energy meter. Not sure which one is used by Google. Probably it makes a deal with GE. But when the device will be in production the PowerMeter will be open.

ONZO announced its new stylish energy monitoring kit. The kit includes LCD display and wireless sensor. The display shows current energy consumption or statistic data for last 10 years (if you have used it so long ) received from the sensor. It has a reversible back which allows users to stand it on a shelf, attach it to the refrigerator or hang it on a wall. The display works from rechargeable batteries and has USB ports to connect it to PC.

The sensor is a clip which attaches to one of the cables coming from the electricity meter. That cable is used not only for measurement of energy consumption but also to power the sensor. Additionally the sensor operates on ultra low power.

The kit will be on sale in middle of this year. The price is not known yet.

I already wrote about energy meter Kill-a-watt which might help you reduce your electricity bill and improve our environment. Creative engineers from MAKE hacked it to add WiFi connectivity and possibility to post measurements directly to specified Twitter account. As result the information from the Kill-a-watt can be received quickly and can be shared with followers. The new device is called Tweet-a-watt

The Tweet-a-watt was designed for the Core77 Green Gadgets competition and its source, schematics and the idea was released as an open-source hardware project. I suspect that we will have such devices in the production soon.

[via SlashGear]