Intel Research eyes home energy, building efficiency
After dabbling with a high-end energy dashboard, Intel Labs shows off a stripped-down, easy-to-install gadget that monitors energy by reading the electrical signature of appliances.
When it comes to energy, Intel's biggest concern is keeping a lid on the power used at giant data centers. But Intel researchers are seriously looking at home energy as well.
During the Research@Intel conference yesterday in Mountain View, Calif., Intel set up a Personal Energy Zone that showcased its efforts to use computing to improve efficiency and boost the use of renewable energy sources.
One demonstration scheduled to go into trials soon is the Wireless Energy Sensing Technology (WEST), a device that plugs into a socket and uses a home wireless network to report power usage of individual items.
The device recognizes the "signatures" of major electrical loads in a home and will transmit the information to a PC, smartphone, or TV. The WEST prototype Intel showed is a box about the size of soda bottle that plugs into a regular electrical outlet.