What is the Smart Grid?

The Smart Grid came about as a solution to increased energy consumption and its related rising costs. It has been adopted worldwide as a system that allows consumers and utilities to share information about power usage. Monitoring energy usage can reduce the threat of brownouts and blackouts that cost billions of dollars annually and create terrible risk to people during heat waves and freezing weather.

The Smart Grid provides consumers with the information they need to monitor and lower their utility bills and to manage their energy consumption in real-time. Two-way communication allows utility companies to be proactive and avoid power-shutoffs by controlling smart appliances if the homeowner has agreed, or opted-in, to participate. Since energy usage costs more when the demand is highest, this can translate to great savings for the consumer.

A Home Area Network (HAN) of Smart appliances that support the ZigBee® Smart Energy standard connect the consumer with the Smart Grid. This standard ensures integration and interoperability with hundreds of smart energy devices from many manufacturers. Appliances can be “smartened” and joined to the HAN by connecting or plugging them into a smart plug/outlet or load controller.

What is Smartenit's role?

Smartenit is among the first to develop products that communicate with the Smart Grid and are meaningful to both the consumer and the utility for monitoring and managing energy consumption securely with reliability and convenience. Smartenit’s load control devices measure power consumption and are aware of prices from the utility. This allows the consumer to initiate a power-down of their appliances based upon certain price points, usage, time or in response to a demand response event from the utility. Smartenit is the first to offer a smart energy multiple-relay load controller as a solution to control dual-speed appliances such as pool pumps.

About ZigBee

ZigBee is the global wireless language connecting dramatically different devices to work together and enhance everyday life. The ZigBee Alliance is a non-profit association of more than 370 members driving development of ZigBee wireless technology. The Alliance promotes world-wide adoption of ZigBee as the leading wirelessly networked, sensing and control standard for use in consumer electronic, energy, home, commercial and industrial areas. For more information, visit www.ZigBee.org.