News

Teridian offers energy measurement capabilities to manufacturers of household appliances and home automation networks (22/1/2010)

As managing and conserving energy are top consumer priorities, Teridian Semiconductor has leveraged years of technology innovation and direct experience in smart utility metering to enable manufacturers of household appliances and home automation networks to enhance products with energy measurement capabilities.  Teridian is at the forefront of the drive to empower consumers with the ability to manage their energy consumption. 

Many consumers are aware that refrigerators, ovens, washers, dryers, and microwaves are the main energy burning culprits in the average household.  What most consumers don’t know is the amount of standby power that they’re using every day by appliances left plugged in or chargers left hanging in the outlet. 

According to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, “A surprisingly large number of electrical products – TVs to microwave ovens to air conditioners – cannot be switched off completely without being unplugged.  These products draw power 24 hours a day, often without the knowledge of the consumer.  This is called ‘standby power.’ An individual product draws relatively little standby power but a typical American home has 40 products constantly drawing power.  Together these amount to almost ten percent of residential electricity use.” 

The first goal toward better understanding usage habits and how they impact consumption is visibility.  “Out of sight, out of mind – for many consumers this is standard operating procedure when it comes to energy conservation,” said Jay Cormier, vice president and general manager, Energy Measurement and Communications, Teridian Semiconductor.   “We receive our monthly electric bill with little insight into what’s driving the cost, but find it easy to ignore our bad habits the rest of the month.” 

Standby power or ‘vampire power’ comes from electronic devices plugged into wall sockets that ‘suck’ power all day, all night, whether ‘on’ or ‘off.’ These devices include TVs, VCRs, DVD players, answering machines, iPods, cell phones, stereos, laptop and desktop computers, anything with a remote, anything with a charger, anything with a clock display. “They’re everywhere, and the power they use can be difficult to measure accurately,” said Cormier.

Technology plays a crucial role in the drive toward energy-efficient consumer behavior.  Teridian has leveraged over 20 years of experience in smart metering technology and has made it available to OEMs developing products and appliances that will make homes smarter.  Teridian’s mission is to take their expertise and make it available to a wide variety of applications.  As an enabler for energy measurement, the company takes an agnostic approach to the communications technology it supports and counts WiFi, HomePlug and ZigBee among the list of communications standards that will be supported.  Teridian has achieved unparalleled technological milestones with its integrated circuits including best in class accuracy of +/-0.5 percent, over a 2000:1 dynamic range.  For consumers this translates to the ability to measure even the smallest amounts of energy usage.

Teridian anticipates major manufacturers of home appliances to begin rolling out smart appliances in 2010.  “That’s when consumer behavior will begin to change.  It’s all about visibility – you can’t manage, what you can’t measure,” added Cormier.

www.teridian.com