Z-Wave Helps to Reduce Energy Consumption in Smart Metering Application

Danish company Z-Wave plan to use energy use monitoring tools to reduce customer bills. The solution - Modstroem - can advise consumers on how to reduce their energy consumption.

The savings can then be returned to the household or it can be reinvested in CO2 quotes that Modstroem buys and destroys. An ordinary household with an average consumption of 4000 kWh per year can thus save the environment at least two tons of CO2 per year. After successfully conquering the Home Control market and building up an impressive eco-system of products, Z-Wave is now equally strongly entering the utility market.

A small digital camera is mounted on the meter to read energy usage. Modstroem customers are able to view their home's energy use on a website. Thanks to Z-Wave, the control of devices to reduce energy is possible through the same wireless technology and the same gateway that is used for the energy monitoring. Furthermore, by avoiding having to replacing the electricity meter, Modstroem enjoys a much simpler rollout and thereby enables accelerated adoption of its new service.

"With its undisputed strength in interoperability and its range of available products, Z-Wave does not only provide for the simple communication from an electricity meter to a gateway and a wireless display in the home. It also enables the control of devices in the home that actually consume the power. Especially this second aspect is essential for Modstroem's advanced service and key to actually achieving energy reduction without compromising comfort for the consumer," says Roar Seeger, CEO of Modstroem.

The new Modstroem offering is supported by the Danish Energy Savings Trust (DEST), an independent subsidiary to the newly established Energy & Climate Ministry in Denmark. It will be promoted to consumers by DEST via TV commercials and in magazines. After intensive in-house research DEST publicly recommends Z-Wave over competing technologies primarily due to the large variety of products available from members in the Z-Wave Alliance, its superior interoperability, better range, low power consumption, and the fact that Z-Wave is not affected by the growing interference from WLAN / Wi-Fi and other devices that work in 2.4 GHz band.
The Modstroem solution was developed in close cooperation with Data Respons, a leading system integrator in the wireless communication technology space.

"Modstroem is a tremendous example of how a scalable, yet simple solution can make this world a little greener. Hand in hand with the marketing drive to explain consumers how energy can be saved, we expect it to be highly effective," explains Tony Shakib, the CEO of Zensys, the company behind the Z-Wave technology. "We believe that a system like Modstroem's that is easily installed and does not require an overhaul of the energy metering infrastructure is a very attractive addition to the many other energy conservation solutions that have been developed by Z-Wave Alliance members."