Software Platforms: Enabling Smart Home Energy Optimization

Software platforms are the key to controlling the array of connected lights, blinds, and solar panels, batteries, thermostats that help smart homeowners to optimize their energy use.

Home automation players like Brilliant, Savant, and Crestron have devices and features available to high-tech and high-end households.

• Savant's home energy modules are smart circuit breakers that track and control devices at the electric panel.
• Crestron's partner Adapt Energy has solutions that optimize Sonnen home battery usage and collect weather data so that the system charges the battery in anticipation of blackouts from storms.
• SmartThings Energy leverages the wide array of devices connected to the platform, including Samsung smart appliances, and enables users to view real-time energy use metrics.
• Alarm.com also shares critical energy information in the platform (see panel on the next page for details.)

Virtual power plants (VPPs) and distributed energy resources (DERs) are other solutions that enable energy management on a smaller scale and serve as innovative ways to reduce stresses placed on the electrical grid while still meeting the energy needs of households. A key feature of VPPs is that they can accumulate energy capacity to resolve peaks in electricity demand, as well as be integrated into the grid.

VPPs can be assembled using assets connected to any part of the grid, whereas microgrids are usually restricted to a particular location, such as an island or a neighborhood. Additionally, while an individual VPP would not be adequate to service a large area, a VPP made up of many units (batteries for example) could function in the same way a large plant would.

Distributed energy resources (DERs) are small-scale electricity supply/demand resources that work in conjunction with the larger electrical grid. They are typically located close to load centers and can be used in isolation or as a larger, interconnected entity to bolster the grid. Virtual power plants and distributed energy resources are strategies gaining popularity as effective ways to leverage connected energy devices to reinforce the grid by giving utilities additional control and flexibility to manage electrical loads.

Download our complimentary White Paper, “Energy, Security, Automation: Converging into Peace of Mind,” in collab with Alarm.com . In this white paper, Parks Associates reveals consumer perspectives on renewable energy solutions and explores the convergence between security, home automation, and home energy solutions. It assesses how these drivers, plus an enormous influx of funding from the government, are accelerating change and creating new opportunities for smart home manufacturers, security players, and energy companies to meet consumers’ growing and changing needs. Download Now: https://bit.ly/409dc7D

Join us for Smart Energy Summit 2023! Smart Energy Summit: Engaging the Consumer addresses the evolution of the consumer utility market, the impact of COVID-19 on energy management programs, and new opportunities to drive engagement in utility-sponsored programs. Virtual panels and networking sessions, featuring executive-level experts from multiple industries, address strategies for utilities, service providers, retailers, software providers, and manufacturers to expand and monetize energy management and other energy-focused offerings through consumer engagement, new business models, unique partnerships, and innovative technologies. Register now: www.ses2023.com