Why Intel Wants To Network Your Clothes Dryer

An anonymous reader writes "Intel has shown off a working prototype of a small box that, among other things, can monitor your clothes dryer to see how much it's contributing to your power bill. The Intelligent Home Energy Management proof-of-concept device is a small box with an 11.56-inch OLED touchscreen that is designed to act as an electronic dashboard for monitoring energy use in the home. By equipping devices like home entertainment systems and clothes dryers with wireless networked power adapters, the system can actually report back the power draw for a particular power point. Leave the house, and it can make sure power-draining devices like that plasma TV are turned off. It is unlikely the device will enter production (there are apparently only four in existence), however this story about the box shows something we can expect to see in the home of tomorrow. Ultimately, it's not only about saving money, but also reducing load on the electricity grid by removing needless power use."

Re:only if the government mandates it

[operagost]

A lot of people are already monitoring their stuff with Kill-A-Watt. This is a networked, managed version of that. If the price was low (like less than $30 US per appliance, plus maybe $100 for the central box or software), people would get it. The problem would be getting to that price point.

Re:only if the government mandates it

[0100010001010011]

I signed up for PowerSmart Pricing [powersmartpricing.org] for free. Which has hourly rates instead of a monthly flat rate. I've cut a good chunk of my bill by shifting most electricity to off hours.

Coupled with a free eSmart [actonenergy.com] programmable thermostat. I can set temperatures from the internet. I also have it setup to kill my AC during peak hours. I did have to give them ability to kill my AC remotely, however 1) I'm not home anyway. 2) It's only 6 times between June and September. Meaning all of 2 days per week.

I'd love to figure out the protocol that it uses and set up some scripting, but for now it works.

Initial cost out of pocket: $0
Savings per month: $20-$50 (compared to previous year)

HAN

[Tisha_AH]

I work in the AMI/ Smart Grid field and I am just finishing up a study on HAN devices for a municipality. This is the way to go, with a ZigBee enabled device to communicate with power monitoring adapters that all of your electrical loads plug into. If it also supported an internet LAN connection back up to the utility AMI MMS (meter management system) it could incorporate the latest billing rate information and any data collected from the AMI meter outside the house.

There are some solutions out there that are closed-proprietary but I believe that a standards-based solution is the right way to go. HAN needs to get to the point where you can go into your local home improvement store and buy devices that can associate to a central device. Right now the price-point is too high at around $100 a device and it can cost $300-$400 to equip a home with a IHD (in home dislay), programmable thermostat and a communications gateway.

I hope that Intel can apply pressure to the marketplace so this technology can become ubiquitous.

Re:Now how about...

[russotto]

The dryer drum turns. The back and front of the dryer do not. To keep heat and clothing inside the drum while allowing the drum to turn, there are two felt seals between the drum and the case. These wear down and that can result in clothing being pushed through the seals.