AlertMe home energy monitoring and security

Home energy monitoring and management was a theme at CES 2010, with a number of devices on display. Here is a system from U.K.-based AlertMe, which the company hopes to bring to the U.S. later this year. It monitors energy use and lets people remotely control appliances, such as heating systems and lights from a smartphone. In the U.K., AlertMe sells the energy monitoring service along with a home security system for a monthly fee. Different devices, such as smart power strips and heating/cooling controllers, communicate using a Zigbee home network built around a central hub (the cube behind the monitor prototype). The system comes with a key fob (on left), which lets people turn home devices and heating/cooling on or off simply by walking in the house, according to the company. AlertMe chief technology officer Paul Fellows has been using the system in his home for a year and said that he has reduced electricity use by 25 percent just by turning things off when they are not in use.