Saturday, July 2, 2011

No. 290: Power saving outlet for household use (July 2, 2011)

Kyoto University and Daiwa House jointly develop the power saving outlet for household use to eliminate unnecessary electricity in household. The outlet saves power at home beginning with such low-priority electricity as standby power and lighting in the daytime in accordance with the power consumption target set up beforehand. It has a built-in microcomputer and figures out the power consumption of electric appliances in real time. The special equipment receives data from the microcomputer wirelessly and analyzes the usage pattern. For example, if power consumption is very small for a certain period, the system judges the electric appliance is not used for a long period and turns it off. In the case of dual-income household, the system turns off every home appliance except refrigerator in the daytime. The research team was participated by Kobe University and Enegate. The substantiative experiment will start in Kyoto this autumn to examine the user-friendliness, accuracy, and cost. The research team plans to put this system into practical use in three years. The scheduled price is less than 100,000 yen per household. Demand for this kind of product is expected to grow fast.

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