Trials are being conducted for a new system to monitor the real-time energy consumption in the household. The data is measured, processed and displayed, showing users how much power is being consumed by various electrical appliances. These efforts are part of a European
Trials are being conducted for a new system to monitor the real-time energy consumption in the household. The data is measured, processed and displayed, showing users how much power is being consumed by various electrical appliances. These efforts are part of a European Union research project that is creating new ways to allow consumers to follow and better understand their use of energy.
In a family home, on the outskirts of Helsinki, sensors were installed on various electrical devices. By observing their energy consumption on a laptop or a touch-screen mobile phone, they were able to see, for example, that cleaning the freezer led to a 15% energy reduction via defrosting.
Giulio Jacucci, coordinator of the BeAware project, is responsible for the software being used. The system is called Energy Life and utilises mobile phones to rise energy awareness. Users can see on their mobile phone display the energy consumption for individual electrical devices, as well as for the whole house, and can see whether devices in the home are turned on or off