building a smarter washing machine

Tomorrow's household appliances may end up talking directly to the electrical grid and making decisions on your behalf.

Much is made of smart grids and their ability to regulate electrical generation and demand. As regions across the developed world strive to modernize their electrical grids, they are rebuilding them as IP-enabled networks, which communicate not only power, but data.

Tomorrow's household appliances may end up talking directly to the electrical grid and making decisions on your behalf.

Much is made of smart grids and their ability to regulate electrical generation and demand. As regions across the developed world strive to modernize their electrical grids, they are rebuilding them as IP-enabled networks, which communicate not only power, but data. These networks will soon rely not only on smart meters, but also on smart appliances, as a means of regulating electrical load.
Historically, the only thing smart about the electricity network has been the human meter reader who arrives every few months to write down the numbers on the mechanical dial ticking away in the customer's basement. As a purely "dumb" device, the meter simply logs how much electricity is used in a business or residence.

smart use

Smart meters change all that. They communicate household energy consumption data back to a central meter data management/repository (MDM/R) system. This analyzes the data for both immediate electrical needs and for trend analysis in the longer term.

The truly smart meter would be able to go further, communicating with suitably-designed appliances in the house and making these part of the smart grid. The electrical grid could then begin to make decisions based directly on communications with household appliances.

A utility with a sophisticated enough system might be able to charge customers different amounts based on when they were using electricity. If usage peaked between two and four in the afternoon, thanks to an uncharacteristically hot day when air conditioning is more popular, then a smart meter might tell a smart appliance that it could save money by modifying its operation.

A washer or dryer could be instructed to start its load an hour later than usual, for example (assuming that the electrical customer had agreed to such an arrangement). Perhaps air conditioning systems in an entire neighborhood might be instructed to turn their temperature up by one or two degrees.

"It's definitely coming," explains Don Tench, Market Assessment and Compliance at the Independent Energy System Operator, the wholesale electricity management organization in Ontario, Canada. "There's a competition going on among the big companies, including Cisco, for these networks to interface appliances with their systems."

mainstream interest

Google and Microsoft both have data gathering initiatives for residential energy that can be used to explain to consumers how they are using energy and in what quantities.

Google has signed a partnership with chip manufacturers, enabling them to work with embedded device developers. One possibility is that these microcontrollers could make household appliances compatible with the search giant's PowerMeter, a Web-based system to report on home energy usage.

The ultimate logical conclusion is that in a few short years, consumers will be able to buy grid- aware smart appliances that will not only report on their own energy usage via compatible home energy monitoring systems, but will also talk directly to the electrical system to make decisions on the users' behalf. Customers could be empowered to create operating rules for their heating and air conditioning systems using a simple Web interface.

Manufacturers are already stepping up to make this happen. Whirlpool has announced plans to put a million smart dryers on the market by the end of next year and wants all of its appliances to be "smart" by 2015.

challenges exist

However, this concept is not without its challenges. Some utilities, such as Newfoundland Power in Canada, have questioned the cost effectiveness of smart grid technology beyond simple two-way meters that can communicate data back to the utility. Many electrical companies will want to see hard figures from others before they commit the capital expenditure necessary to enable their grids for smart appliances.

The other problem could be regulatory. In some regions, innovations such as time-of- use charging are difficult to execute because of the incumbent market structure. Group- based forward-capacity planning structures occasionally preclude local distribution companies from knowing how much they will charge for electricity until after the event.

In any case, standards must be thrashed out if the various stakeholders, including utilities, electrical distribution companies, household appliance manufacturers and networking companies are to avoid pitching customers headlong into a confusing, fragmented nightmare that they would rather simply avoid.

Consumers have been subjected to such in-fighting before, in areas such as home entertainment systems. Let's hope that those responsible for making our electrical systems greener will avoid the same mistakes.