Tracking your home’s overall electricity consumption is one thing. Tracking the power consumption of individual appliances — affordably — is a much taller order.
Today Belgium-based Smappee is launching its new home energy management system in the U.S. to itemize the power draw of every electrical device in your home, without using separate sensors for each.
[aditude-amp id="flyingcarpet" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":1621490,"post_type":"story","post_chan":"none","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"business,enterprise,","session":"C"}']“We listen to the different appliances that turn on and off in your home,” CEO and founder Stefan Grosjean told VentureBeat. “It’s like listening for a flute in an orchestra.”
Smappee uses a single tap on the main power line into the home to identify energy signatures. Appliances and electronics are identified as “appliance #1” and so on. The home owner can then identify the device as it turns on or off, and label it.
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The alternative — sensors on each appliance or electrical device — would be too expensive for home owners, Grosjean said. He notes that his system finds 80 percent of the electrical devices in a home, which meant 55 identified devices in his own home.
“It’s not perfect,” he said, “but imagine if you had to install 55 meters [from a company like Belkin] in your home, at $50 each.” Smappee says its system can help reduce the energy bill for a four person home by an average of 12 percent. “And we do it with a single sensor.”
The system costs a one-time $249. This includes the monitor, the app for iOS or Android phones, and one “comfort plug.” There are no ongoing service charges, but a licensed electrician would best install the tap. The electrical utility company is not involved.
A comfort plug is a small plate that plugs into a wall outlet. An electrical device, such as a home entertainment system, then plugs into the comfort plug’s front outlets.
Through the comfort plug, Smappee can automatically shut down the entertainment system when you’re sleeping, so that you save on what would otherwise be a trickle of electrical draw even if the system is turned off. Additional comfort plugs for other electrical devices are $40 each. Grosjean, who previously founded energy management firm Energy ICT, said most customers are buying three additional comfort plugs.
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The system can also use comfort plugs to set up interactions, such as starting the coffee maker 10 minutes before an alarm rings.
By electrical signatures alone, the system can tell if, for instance, the garage door has been opened, because it can detect the motor. Smappee will also give tips on energy management, such as, “Did you know your refrigerator is using three times the energy average for that appliance?”
Although home automation is not its primary function, Smappee works with Phillips smart Hue lightbulbs or the Nest smart thermostat, via automation service If This/Then That (IFTTT). Grosjean said Smappee will also support Apple’s Home Kit.
The company has raised $3.5 million to date, and it has sold systems in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.
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