Using Wireless Power Meters to Measure Energy Use of Miscellaneous and Electronic Devices in Buildings
- Iris
Miscellaneous and electronic devices consume about one-third of the primary energy used in U.S. buildings, and their energy use is increasing faster than other end-uses. Despite the success of policies, such as Energy Star, that promote more efficient miscellaneous and electronic products, much remains to be done to address the energy use of these devices if we are to achieve our energy and carbon reduction goals. Developing efficiency strategies for these products depends on better data about their actual usage, but very few studies have collected field data on the long-term energy used by a large sample of devices due to the difficulty and expense of collecting device-level energy data. This paper describes the development of an improved method for collecting device-level energy and power data using small, relatively inexpensive wireless power meters. These meters form a mesh network based on Internet standard protocols and can form networks of hundreds of metering points in a single building. Because the meters are relatively inexpensive and do not require manual data downloading, they can be left in the field for months or years to collect long time-series energy use data. In addition to the metering technology, we also describe a field protocol used to collect comprehensive, robust data on the miscellaneous and electronic devices in a building. The paper presents sample results from several case study buildings, in which all the plug-in devices for several homes were metered, and a representative sample of several hundred plug-in devices in a commercial office building were metered for several months.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- Environmental Energy Technologies Division
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC02-05CH11231
- OSTI ID:
- 1050720
- Report Number(s):
- LBNL-4892E; TRN: US201218%%918
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Energy Efficiency in Domestic Appliances and Lighting (EEDAL) 2011 Conference, Copenhagen, Denmark, May 24-26, 2011
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
29 ENERGY PLANNING
POLICY AND ECONOMY
APPLIANCES
CARBON
EFFICIENCY
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
INTERNET
METERING
METERS
OFFICE BUILDINGS
POWER METERS
Meters
Wireless
Power
Energy Use
Electronic Devices
Buildings
end-use metering
advanced meters
load research
wireless networking