Reference Design for Residential Energy Gateway

 Residential electrical load management is a critical part of much 
 of the functionality proposed for the new Smart Grid. The United
 States Department of Energy Smart Grid Initiative places
 substantial emphasis on consumer inclusion and resident energy
 education as part of this effort. With essentially nothing in place
 at present to implement residential load management and
 simultaneously educate the consumer/resident, this project is
 focused on developing a functional reference design for a
 residential gateway which is socially, economically and
 technologically feasible.

  The final system is envisioned to be able to:

• Communicate with an outside entity to determine the current and/or future cost of electricity and system status (normal, emergency, partial curtailment, etc.)
• Know from previous communication with the resident(s) how to prioritize various load usages against price, time-of-day, day-of-the-week, weather, etc.
• Communicate with an electric meter (either the revenue meter or a separate meter) to determine current whole-house electricity usage.
• Communicate with electrical loads (appliances) to control or suggest current and/or future operation.
• Communicate with loads to determine power usage.
• Display relevant information to residents.
• Accept input from residents to change (override) current operating conditions.

For details of this project, please see:    mechatronics.berkeley.edu/gateway.htm