GE Launches Home Energy Management Business

GE (NYSE: GE) has created a new Home Energy Management (HEM) business that aims to tie together all of the company’s smart home products into a comprehensive, marketable package.

GE wants to be the first major appliance company to provide a whole-home solution for energy management by going beyond the kitchen to provide insight into energy usage in the family room, the basement, the home office, and all other rooms of the house.

Products include the GeoSpring™ hybrid hot water heater, Nucleus™ energy manager and programmable thermostats, GE Profile™ Appliances, and GE smart meters.

Dave McCalpin was recently appointed General Manager of GE’s Home Energy Management (HEM) business. “If we can better manage when and how we use power, we can control the demand without compromising people’s lifestyles. This is where global smart grid initiatives and GE’s new Home Energy Management products come into play,” McCalpin said.

GE Energy products, like solar PV, advanced energy storage, thin-film solar, small wind, and residential electric car charging stations, in addition to next-generation products being developed at GE’s Global Research Center, will also expected to play a part in helping both consumers and utilities realize the true benefits of the smart grid.

It’s estimated that 40 million smart meters, which allow two-way communication between the utility and the home, will be installed on U.S. homes between now and 2012. Among other benefits, these smart meters will enable “time-of-use” pricing programs that incent consumers to lower their consumption during “peak-demand” periods.

This consumer-driven demand response reduction could provide the largest reduction in U.S. peak demand, helping avoid consumption equivalent to the generation of 108 coal plants over 10 years. Playing a critical role in demand response, HEM devices could actually communicate with smart meters to automatically reduce power consumption of certain devices when the cost and demand for power is highest, helping consumers save without sacrifice.

A year-long study by the U.S. Department of Energy showed that providing real-time pricing information to consumers via the smart meter helped reduce electricity costs 10% on average and 15% during peak periods.

Consumers today have little more than a monthly utility bill to understand how much power they’re using and how much they’re spending. Compare this to your credit card statements, which you can check almost hourly online. New utility pricing plans, along with inevitable increases in electricity costs, beg for solutions to provide consumers with the information necessary to better manage energy.

GE’s Brillion Suite of Home Energy Solutions, being developed by GE’s HEM business, will include the Nucleus, a programmable thermostat, an energy display, smart phone applications, and GE Profile Appliances. Future hardware and software upgrades will further enable Nucleus to monitor water, natural gas, and renewable energy sources, as well as plug-in electric vehicle charging.