Intelligent Energy Management

Monday, March 08 2010

Smart meters – intelligent devices to measure consumption – make it possible to read and control power consumption, even of private households, while away from the property. New software shadows the electricity meter and that ensures energy consumption is adjusted accordingly.

Today's battery technology is unable to sufficiently buffer the fluctuations in the energy supply.

Professor Frank Bomarius, deputy director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Experimental Software Engineering IESE in Germany, and his team are developing the new software. "Data on the anticipated price trend over the next few minutes or hours come from the outside – which means from the power supplier – or utility company," says Bomarius. These must be adapted to the needs and preferences of the consumer. "Our system makes sure that there is optimal control over household appliances based on these conditions."

This entails more than simply shutting off the air conditioner or laundry machine for the interim, should electricity prices go up. Instead, a much more intelligent approach would be, for instance, using the refrigerator or freezer for energy storage. "If the utility company reports that electricity is getting scarce and will become more expensive in the next two hours, then these appliances can begin to pre-cool their contents right away, so that afterwards, they won't need any power for an extended period of time." The same principle applies correspondingly to water and heating systems.