Electrical Industry Canada Power Quality Issue - 7

Micali added that, " Then you see the relative size of the bubbles showing the energy usage
for each device and it gives you an idea of which device is using more power than the others -
keeping energy top of mind and giving you the tools to see how much energy devices are using.
With this kind of energy insight, we find that people are able to save, in some cases, up to
25-30% of their energy use. "
A study of utility customers conducted by Efficiency Vermont found that, on average, people
saved 8% but, says Micali, " If you're highly engaged, the savings can be much higher. "
A few opportunities for savings include " stand-by " or what Sense calls " Always On " power
draw from devices that aren't in use, aging appliances, baseboard heaters drawing too much
energy, or even space heaters, as well as devices you don't think about. One Sense user found
their sewer pump was constantly running, and another was able to detect an issue with their
well pump. When it comes to those types of devices, you can set a notification to alert you when
it has been running too long to avoid a potential failure.
It can also detect a floating neutral, which creates a voltage imbalance and can lead to
potential shock hazard.
" Each house usually has a set of things that you don't notice and are just there wasting power,
its low hanging fruit, and its pretty hard to find those things if you don't have some visibility and
tool to help you track them down, " said Micali.
" It's amazing how many misconceptions there are about what uses a lot of power and what
doesn't, " Micali added.
Sense will also look to integrate with other IoT/smart technologies. They currently integrate
with Phillips Hue, for example. The point being to help identify devices, as well as add control
within the Sense app. The big picture with that is shifting loads to off-peak pricing periods. Said
Micali: " You can imagine being able to automate your EV to charge based on your solar
production, or charge at night, and have that automatically managed for you. Long term that is
our vision: becoming the intelligence for the home. "
" Intelligently managing the things behind the scenes set to your preferences and settings, to
save as much energy as possible and let you know if there is an issue. "
And because Sense is detecting at the power signal, the monitor can detect devices that
aren't connected/smart. " You can also think of Sense as a virtual sensor network that's able to
connect non-smart devices to your smart home, " commented Micali.
They can use 'if-this-then-that' integration, Micali explained, " I don't have a connected
garage door, but Sense detects it, so I use if-this-then-that to set the lights to turn on when my
garage door opens. " This allows devices that aren't Wi-Fi enabled to participate in the smart
home ecosystem.
ELECTRICAL INDUSTRY CANADA

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Electrical Industry Canada Power Quality Issue

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