GLOBAL CHALLENGES

Intel Puts the Personal into Energy Management

R. Colin Johnson | Date: 04-15-10 | Comments

Personal computer pioneers at Intel are aiming to create a new era of "personal energy management," where smart control panels and apps empower every homeowner to track, compare and conserve energy consumption.

Personal energy management could become as ubiquitous as the personal computer, according to Intel, which kicked off its new initiative with a keynote speech that Intel Chief Technology Officer Justin Rattner delivered at the Intel Developer Forum (April 13-14, 2010, in Beijing).

Intel's household energy management panel (pictured) works with its smart wireless energy sensor to enable an entire ecosystem of personal energy management products.

"We believe that, given a choice, people will vote with their wallets to have a positive effect on both energy consumption, reducing their carbon footprint and making more use of sustainable, renewable energy sources," says Rattner.

To that end, Intel showed a personal energy management hardware control panel that tracks current energy consumption; provides a household profile for usage; predicts what your electricity bill will be at your current rate of consumption; and gives you controls to set your thermostat, turn on sprinklers and manage other household energy usage. Intel also showed software apps that performed the same functions, but from a computer or smartphone.

"Consumers have a big knob to turn�they can control up to 32 percent of their household energy usage if they are given the data and tools they need to make smart energy decisions," Rattner states.

Intel also showed a companion smart wireless sensor that can catalog household energy usage without having to retrofit any special equipment into appliances, and without having to upgrade to new appliances with their own smart sensors already embedded. Intel's smart sensor just plugs into any power outlet to monitor all the devices on that circuit. Using pattern recognition to recognize the signature of electrical devices when they turn on and off, Intel's smart sensor can identify the sources of all loads and tally their independent contributions to the household profile in real time.

Intel's household energy management panel and its smart sensor together enable an entire ecosystem of personal energy management products to be spawned that Intel claims could help the average U.S. household save up to $470 per year in electricity. Since the United States has 113 million households, if 1 percent of those households adopted the personal energy management system, the results would be the equivalent of taking 535,000 cars off the road, according to Rattner. If all households participated, then potential savings could be up to $50 billion.

Intel predicts that its business partners will start introducing initial products based on its personal energy management concept by the end of 2010.

"Intel has been engaged with a number of utilities in North America and Europe who are very excited by the potential opportunities created by this new class of product, though we are not at liberty to disclose specifics at this time," says Ryan Parker, director of marketing for Intel Embedded and Communications Group.