Home Energy Storage vs. Intelligent Home Energy Storage Part 2 of 2
The difference of "intelligent" home energy storage
When we say that WISE's home energy storage solution is intelligent, what we mean is that it allows you to make smarter choices to optimize your energy consumption beyond the capabilities of any other system. That's because the WISE system is connected to the IoT and can thus communicate data about energy usage. While this might not seem like that big of a deal, here are some of the implications of this technology:
Optimized energy usage at a granular level – An intelligent energy storage system doesn’t just store energy for you to use later. It also communicates with you about your energy usage behavior down to each outlet or switch, and lets you program how much electricity will be distributed throughout your house and when.
The purpose of this is twofold: First, you can monitor your energy usage and change your habits to reduce your energy expenses month-to-month. This can be as simple as using fewer or lower-watt lightbulbs and washing your clothes in the evenings instead of during the day. Second, you can turn outlets and switches on and off automatically depending on the energy needs of your lifestyle, thus optimizing your home’s energy consumption and reducing energy costs even further.
Integration with devices such as smart phones, tablets, and computers – Need to manage your home’s energy usage through your device? No problem, there’s an app for that. An intelligent energy storage system communicates data to you through your device so that your home’s entire electrical system is at your fingertips.
Communication with utility companies to help them reduce costs and environmental impact – In addition to communicating with you about your home’s energy usage, an intelligent energy storage system also communicates with the utility company about it as well. The reason is that utility companies can use this information to help them with load balancing and forecasting which impacts how much electricity they generate. This can reduce the cost of your electricity and can reduce the amount of fossil fuels utility companies burn which is beneficial for the environment.
Utilities can also monitor energy consumption data in real-time so that they’re instantly informed about outages and blackouts. This enables them to react more quickly to restore uptime for consumers. Finally, intelligent energy storage can preclude the need for utility companies to build supplemental power plants or "peaker" plants. This can result in lower electricity costs and a decrease in the amount of fossil fuels they burn as well.
Convenient hub for smart home automation – An intelligent energy storage system can serve as the central hub from which you can control all your IoT smart home and home automation devices. It’s vendor-neutral meaning that it can integrate your IoT devices together into a single display on your smart phone, tablet, or computer. This means that you can water your lawn with your smart sprinkler system; turn up the heat with your smart thermostat; and see who’s knocking at the front door with your smart security camera all through your intelligent energy storage system. In addition, you can also control the flow of electricity throughout each smart device in your home to optimize your smart home’s overall energy consumption.
Paving the way for smart cities technology – There’s currently a movement towards “Smart Cities” technology and intelligent energy storage certainly fits into that. Smart cities initiatives involve local governments adopting IoT technology to generate data about things like infrastructure, traffic, and even crime. They then use this data to make smarter decisions when it comes to managing the city’s resources.
An example of smart cities technology would be street lights that dim or turn off to save electricity if there’s no one around. It can also include sensors that detect average traffic through a main street so the city can anticipate the need for repairs ahead of time. The payoff for residents of these locales is increased safety, reduced cost of living, and increased quality of life. Intelligent energy storage plays a part because it also communicates data so that governments can make more effective decisions regarding their energy efficiency.
These are just a few of the benefits of intelligent energy storage, but the difference from regular energy storage systems should be obvious. Home energy storage itself is generally a great way to reduce monthly costs and protect the environment, but intelligent home energy storage goes many steps beyond that to create an experience that’s completely unique. There's simply no substitute for a system that gives you redundancy, reliability, and reduced costs like an intelligent home energy storage system, and there’s nothing else like it on the market
One last point I’d like to make is that WISE systems need to be installed by an HVAC or electrical contracting professional, so we’re developing a network of Value-Added Resellers (VARs) who’ll distribute, install, and service WISE technology to their customers. This is an opportunity for you to add another revenue stream to your business and be a part of this innovation in how homes are powered.