EnergyHub has been one of the most talked about companies in the home energy management space, and it has announced a direct-to-consumer launch of its home energy management system.
EnergyHub says it is the first company to offer a comprehensive, affordable home energy management system directly to public. To date, the company’s technology has only been available through utility-sponsored programs.
The EnergyHub System
The system is made up of the EnergyHub Home Base, a 4.3-inch LCD touchpanel that serves as the central in-home display and wirelessly communicates with other devices in the system, such as the Thermostat, Sockets and 6-outlet Strips. The Home Base also connects to the web via Wi-Fi or the consumer’s broadband connection, enabling users to remotely control individual components and appliances from the MyHub cloud-based web and mobile applications, which supports iPhone/iPod/iTouch/iPad and Android platforms.
Users can control and monitor the energy use of individual devices plugged into the Sockets or Strips. The Home Base also has three buttons for preset Home, Away and Goodnight modes that turn on or off selected devices.
Whole-house energy monitoring is possible for those who have two-way communicating smart meters. When a utility smart meter is present, the system will communicate all the electricity use in the home in real time and provide daily, weekly and monthly comparisons of the home energy use.
The central component of the EnergyHub system, the Home Base, comes in two types: ZigBee and ERT (electronic receiver/transmitter) compatible, two common types of radio types that smart meters use to broadcast electricity use information. There is a video to help people understand which version to get. Those with some Itron smart meters can get the ERT version. Those who have eters with spinning discs will not be able to monitor their whole-house energy use.
How to Buy/Pricing
As of Tuesday, Aug. 30, people can purchase the EnergyHub system directly from the EnergyHub web site. Different product bundles are available:
• Home Base + Thermostat – ZigBee version: $299.99 / ERT version $389.99
• Starter Kit (Home Base + Socket + Strip) – ZigBee version $324.99 / ERT version $414.99
• Starter Kit + Thermostat – ZigBee version $399.99 / ERT version $499.99
• Sockets, Strips, and Thermostats are also available individually for $39.99, $89.99, and $99.99, respectively.
According to EnergyHub, installing its system in the home can help to realize hundreds of dollars of potential energy savings per year for the average U.S. household. Recent pilots and a variety of research, show that providing consumers with real-time direct feedback on their energy use can result in double digit energy savings (the annual energy bill for a U.S. single family home is $2,200).