At the recent Microsoft Research TechFest 2008, a number of sustainbility solutions were showcased to the geek and boffin community, including a tiny device used to monitor energy use.
The 'tiny device' is actually a low power, web enabled chip that is destined to run on two AA batteries for about 4 years. The chip use could be for anything from smoke detectors, to window break sensors, to data centre energy monitoring.
The prototype shown at the event, ran WDSL/TCP/IP over 802.15.4 radio and showed a couple of different home automation uses. Multiple 'tiny' devices can be integrated into a single home (or business) network that connects to the Internet to access 'cloud based services'. One of the particular uses demonstrated was how the weather (e.g. humidity, temperature) and energy price variations could be monitored to adjust heating and cooling within the built environment by the device - the controller in the environment is then adjusted accordingly.
The prototype device has only 4k RAM and 10k ROM and uses XML configuration to adjust the device metrics, e.g. check humidity every 20 minutes. The client has been built on the .NET framework, meaning the device functions can be extended using Microsoft Visual Studio.
Another demonstrated feature with the tiny web device was the automation and monitoring of lighting, using a lamp as an example. The program that monitors the devices, can turn on and off the lighting and monitor how much power is being drawn including fluctuations. The lamp demonstration showed how the the lamp power cable is plugged into a small management device, which in turn plugs into a normal power socket - this device then wirelessly communicates with the other devices in the network.
The prototype material cost was around US$120 however this excludes packaging and manufacturing costs, and doesn't take into account potential future mass manufacture efficiency gains.
Although not available now it will be an interesting solution to energy efficiency in the near future. Already in Australia the energy sector is trialling simpler 'smart metering' solutions which allow households and businesses to understand when the best times to use major appliances are. It achieves this by capturing energy use every 1/2 hour and charging different rates based on the time of day/night - an average $45 per household saving annually is estimated using this simple technology.
References:
Microsoft Research 2008, Tiny Web Services
AMPY 2007, Smart Meters to cut bills and help the environment
Energy Australia 2007, 1.5 million customers can plug into new electronics smart meters
