100% electricity metering.
On the eve of Christmas, when users turn on many electrical appliances in their homes, scientists from the University of Essex (UK) John Woods and Steve Fitz won a grant to develop a smart plug that can monitor electricity consumption.
The new device will not be outwardly different from existing plugs, but it will be able to determine how much electricity a particular device has consumed and communicate with the general home automation system.
A microcontroller, an electricity consumption meter, and a wireless transmitter for sending signals to the central system are installed inside each plug.
The user will be able to monitor which of his electrical devices consumes the most energy.
With household electricity consumption accounting for 1/3 of the total electricity generated, it is important to develop technology that can reduce energy consumption.
The prototype smart plug will be manufactured by Ipswich within six months and then tested on campus.