As countries around the world seek ways to balance supply and demand of energy, so-called “smart grids” and related home automation sensor technologies are stepping up to fill the need. Bluetooth low energy technology promises to change the way we think about power consumption.

Imagine creating a network of tiny wireless sensors in your home that monitors energy costs and controls electrical appliances to save energy and reduce cost. That’s the idea behind the concept of a “Smart Grid” – a two-way monitoring system that allows consumers and utility providers to better control electricity supply and demand. Making that type of intelligent network a reality is closer than you might think.

It’s no secret that, over the past few years, increasing demand for electricity has strained electrical grids to the point of near or total failure. High-profile blackouts, like the August 2003 blackout that crippled New York City or the blackout that disrupted services in Italy and Switzerland just a month later, and overworked systems like the one in California, have made consumers and utility companies painfully aware of the need to reduce energy consumption.

The good news is that, just as smart grids and similar energy solutions are coming online, Bluetooth low energy technology has arrived on the scene and is poised to deliver a robust solution for home automation sensors.

Recently, we spoke with Bill Drake, lead engineer for White-Rodgers, a business of Emerson, about the role that Bluetooth low energy technology will play in smart grid initiatives.

Drake is uniquely qualified to speak to this topic: He is the chair of the Bluetooth SIG Automation Working Group, which is responsible for developing Bluetooth wireless applications for home and industrial automation, home information and system control. White-Rodgers is also a participant in the newly formed Bluetooth SIG Smart Energy Study Group, which is looking into the technical requirements for supporting smart energy initiatives and solutions.

Q. Why create a smart grid?

A. There are a number of good reasons for this trend. Already in the United States, we’ve built hydroelectric plants in all of the “easy” places. Building more will raise questions of environmental impact, and rightly so. Along the same lines, we can’t just go and build more nuclear power plants or high-voltage lines. There are issues associated with these facilities, and consumers don’t want them in their backyards.

Over the past ten years or so, the U.S. Energy Department and various utility companies have been asking how they can make energy supply and demand come into better balance. When they are out of balance, you see rolling brownouts, widespread blackouts or other interruptions in service. No one wants that to happen.

If we can bring information about supply and demand to the customer, perhaps he will make decisions that will help balance the equation. It’s too late to get a bill that shows high usage in the previous month. The behavior modification opportunity is past. If customers can be made aware of how much electricity is going to cost in the coming hour or day or week, then they can react to it and change their consumption habits.

Q. How does a smart grid work?

A. The power company would communicate information on available supply, along with the cost per kilowatt hour (kWh), to the power meter outside the house, for example. Then that information would be transmitted from the meter into the house where the homeowner can a) see it and b) react to it. There’s a third possible part where there are some pre-programmed electronic devices that can react when the homeowner is not there.

If you have an intelligent thermostat, it can communicate with the meter and adjust the temperature settings or turn off the HVAC systems during times when the cost per kWh exceeds some pre-determined threshold. You can sync your ceiling fans and window blinds, too, so that when the HVAC system shuts off, the fans come on or the blinds lower. Or perhaps a clothes dryer will only come on when demand on the grid is low, perhaps at 2:00 in the morning. This communication among appliances and home systems can be accomplished through wireless sensors or traditional hard wires.

There’s a second part to this as well. On a hot summer day, the power company knows that the grid is about to be in trouble. It can send a signal through the system down to the power meter and into your home to remotely turn off the air conditioner for ten minutes. This so-called load shedding would be automatic, and most people would never even notice the outage.

But remember that this would be an opt-in program; the benefit for participants is a decrease in annual energy costs.

Q. Where does Bluetooth technology fit in?

A. When you look at new home construction, it’s easy to think ahead and hard-wire for smart grid power consumption. But retrofitting a home to do the same thing is costly and presents a logistical problem. Now you have to open up walls, drill holes and run wires. It’s going to take time and cost money.

What if we do all this wirelessly? You can place a sensor on a dryer or a thermostat that communicates with the meter and sends a run/don’t run message to the appliance automatically.

We’ve already seen a lot of wireless automation and control in industrial applications. For example, a steel mill had to monitor air quality at the perimeter of its facility, but running 12,000 feet of cable was going to cost USD$15,000. Using Bluetooth wireless sensors, the cost came down to USD$1,000. Another company needed to monitor equipment and environment in a clean room; going in to check on things requiring scrubbing down and suiting up, which was time-consuming. A Bluetooth wireless sensor solution eliminated that hassle.

It’s a logical next step to use wireless sensors for controlling home environments. You have all the same motivators, just on a smaller scale. We’ve already seen ZigBee step into the smart grid space with its low-power home automation network sensors, so we know wireless sensors are a great solution.

Bluetooth technology can provide a user-oriented solution in the smart energy applications, especially as the new Bluetooth low energy technology comes to market, because of its robustness, efficiency and ability to coexist with other wireless technologies. Also, the existing Bluetooth ecosystem, with mobile phone, personal computer and automobile presence, can provide the user interface for smart energy applications.

Bluetooth technology uses a frequency hopping spread spectrum technology with AFH and APC. As the 2.4 GHz band becomes more and more crowded, fixed channel technologies will have a harder and harder time communicating above all the noise. Bluetooth technology, on the other hand, performs very well in noisy environments by not only avoiding outside interference but also by not creating interference.

A Washington University study showed that Classic Bluetooth technology provided a solution that consumed less power and offered better coverage in a home automation-type of network. I think that Bluetooth low energy technology is going to enable Bluetooth technology to move into areas where it hasn’t been seen as competitive before. It will extend the ecosystem from your PC, car and mobile phone to almost everything in your daily life that uses energy.

Q. Do you think Bluetooth low energy technology will become the default technology for smart grid applications?

A. I think the marketplace will determine that, but certainly the fact that Bluetooth technology is already in your car for hands-free calling makes for an easy transition to having, say, an electric car communicate with the home system about the best time to recharge. Also, as people upgrade to more efficient HVAC systems in existing homes, the move to wireless controls will be highly motivated. And in some places, like in California, legislation will force the issue.

The biggest advantage that I see in Bluetooth technology is that the existing ecosystem, combined with its proven data transmission efficiency and robust operation, makes it seamless for consumers. Half of the system already exists in a ubiquitous user interface. It’s called a mobile phone.

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 26th, 2010 at 2:16 pm and is filed under Manufacturers, My Home, My Soapbox, featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.