UK startup company
Navetas has developed a new smart meter technology that, in addition to tracking overall energy use, is able to distinguish the AC unit, TV, refrigerator and all of the various power loads in a user's house from one another. It calls its technology "energy disaggregation," a process where its computer algorithms can be used to learn the different power loads in a house over a week or two depending on how often each is used. The information can then be presented in-home, on the web and via mobile devices, as well as sent back to the utility.
Navetas CEO Chris Saunders describes the technology,
saying "we go into a process where we identify the core elements of an appliance -- for instance, we can identify heating loads, induction motor loads, consumer electronics loads and things like that. We then look at associations between all of those within the home to piece together what is occurring, and to identify discrete appliances.”