Systems, methods and apparatus for encouraging energy conscious behavior based on aggregated third party energy consumption

• US 9,507,363 B2
• Filed: 07/01/2015
• Issued: 11/29/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Weaver, Jason C., Kayton, Bradley A.
• Primary Examiner(s): BARNES-BULLOCK, CRYSTAL JOY
• Application Number:
  US14/789,716
• Publication Number:
  US 20150301549A1
• Time in Patent Office: 517 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/30 for purposes related to the operation of the system, e.g. for safety or monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/46 Improving electric energy efficiency or saving
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/52 Indication arrangements, e.g. displays
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/56 Remote control
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/62 characterised by the type of control or by internal processing, e.g. using fuzzy logic, adaptive control or estimation of values
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/63 Electronic processing
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/64 using pre-stored data
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2110/10 Temperature
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2110/12 of the outside air
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2110/20 Humidity
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2130/00 Control inputs relating to environmental factors not covered by group F24F2110/00
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2130/10 Weather information or forecasts
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2130/20 Sunlight
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2140/60 Energy consumption
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/34306 Power down, energy saving
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 23/1917 using digital means
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 23/1927 using a plurality of sensors G05D23/1902, G05D23/1917, and G05D23/1919 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05F 1/66 Regulating electric power
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06314 Calendaring for a resource
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0257 : User requested
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 : Energy or water supply
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 19/00 : Teaching not covered by other main groups of this subclass teaching or practice apparatus for gun-aiming or gun-laying F41G3/26
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/02 : with visual presentation of the material to be studied, e.g. using film strip
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/14 : The load or loads being home appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/00 : Circuit arrangements for ac mains or ac distribution networks
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/14 : by switching loads on to, or off from, network, e.g. progressively balanced loading
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/12 : Arrangements for remote connection or disconnection of substations or of equipment thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2816 : Controlling appliance services of a home automation network by calling their functionalities arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station; in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom H04Q9/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2827 : Reporting to a device within the home network; wherein the reception of the information reported automatically triggers the execution of a home appliance functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2829 : involving user profiles according to which the execution of a home appliance functionality is automatically triggered
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 : comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 : in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 : specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/30 : using a wired architecture
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/43 : using wireless personal area networks [WPAN], e.g. 802.15, 802.15.1, 802.15.4, Bluetooth or ZigBee
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/60 : for transmitting utility meters data, i.e. transmission of data from the reader of the utility meter
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 9/00 : Arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 : Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/00 : Wireless channel access
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 70/30 : Systems integrating technologies related to power network operation and communication or information technologies for improving the carbon footprint of the management of residential or tertiary loads, i.e. smart grids as climate change mitigation technology in the buildings sector, including also the last stages of power distribution and the control, monitoring or operating management systems at local level
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 : in wireless communication networks
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/82 : Energy audits or management systems therefor
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/20 : End-user application control systems
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 50/14 : Marketing, i.e. market research and analysis, surveying, promotions, advertising, buyer profiling, customer management or rewards

Abstract

Accessing an energy management policy for a plurality of devices is described, wherein the devices are coupled with a first structure. The energy usage of the devices is monitored. An energy usage rule and energy usage is then compared. The energy management policy and energy usage is also compared. Based on the comparing, an instruction is generated to modify an energy usage profile of said device to correlate with the energy usage rule associated with the devices and the energy management policy, thereby enabling efficient energy management.

Claims

1. An energy management system for encouraging energy-conscious behavior, the system comprising:

one or more processors; and

a memory communicatively coupled with and readable by the one or more processors and having stored therein processor-readable instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to;

determine energy usage information for a plurality of structures, the energy usage information indicating an energy usage information associated with the plurality of structures;

compare energy usage information of a first structure to the energy usage information associated with the plurality of structures;

determine one or more differences between the energy usage information of the first structure and the energy usage information associated with the plurality of structures based on the comparing; and

communicate to a user linked with the first structure, the energy usage information of the first structure, the energy usage information associated with the plurality of structures, and an indication of the one or more differences.

2. The energy management system for encouraging energy-conscious behavior of claim 1, wherein the processor-readable instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to communicate to the first associated with the first structure comprise processor-readable instructions which, when executed, cause the one or more processors to:

provide a graphical display to the user that graphically indicates the energy usage information of the first structure, the energy usage information associated with the plurality of structures, and the indication of the one or more differences.

3. The energy management system for encouraging energy-conscious behavior of claim 1, wherein the plurality of structures are in a neighborhood of the first structure.

4. The energy management system for encouraging energy-conscious behavior of claim 3, wherein a zip code of the user is used to identify the plurality of structures determined to be in the neighborhood of the first structure.

5. The energy management system for encouraging energy-conscious behavior of claim 1, wherein the energy usage information associated with the plurality of structures comprises a cost.

6. The energy management system for encouraging energy-conscious behavior of claim 1, wherein the processor-readable instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to communicate to the first associated with the first structure comprise processor-readable instructions which, when executed, cause the one or more processors to communicate an efficiency measurement for a subset of the plurality of structures in comparison to the plurality of structures, the first structure, or both.

7. The energy management system for encouraging energy-conscious behavior of claim 1, wherein the energy usage information for each structure of the plurality of structures represents total energy consumption of all electrical items within the corresponding structure.

8. The energy management system for encouraging energy-conscious behavior of claim 1, wherein the energy usage information for each structure of the plurality of structures represents energy consumption of a subset of electrical devices operating in the corresponding structure.

9. A method of encouraging energy-conscious behavior, comprising:

determining energy usage information for a plurality of structures, the energy usage information indicating an energy usage information associated with the plurality of structures;

comparing energy usage information of a first structure to the energy usage information associated with the plurality of structures;

determining one or more differences between the energy usage information of the first structure and the energy usage information associated with the plurality of structures based on the comparing; and

communicating to a first user associated with the first structure, the energy usage information of the first structure, the energy usage information associated with the plurality of structures, and an indication of the one or more differences.

10. The method of encouraging energy-conscious behavior of claim 9, wherein communicating to the first associated with the first structure comprises:

providing a graphical display that graphically indicates the energy usage information of the first structure, the energy usage information associated with the plurality of structures, and the indication of the one or more differences.

11. The method of encouraging energy-conscious behavior of claim 9, wherein the plurality of structures are in a neighborhood of the first structure.

12. The method of encouraging energy-conscious behavior of claim 11, wherein a zip code of the user is used to identify the plurality of structures determined to be in the neighborhood of the first structure.

13. The method of encouraging energy-conscious behavior of claim 9, wherein the energy usage information associated with the plurality of structures indicates a total cost.

14. The method of encouraging energy-conscious behavior of claim 9, wherein communicating to the first user associated with the first structure comprises communicating an efficiency indication for a subset of the plurality of structures in comparison to at least the plurality of structures.

15. The method of encouraging energy-conscious behavior of claim 9, wherein the energy usage information for the first structure represents total energy consumption of electrical devices within the structure.

16. The method of encouraging energy-conscious behavior of claim 9, wherein the energy usage information for the first structure represents energy consumption of a subset of devices operating in the first structure.

17. A non-transitory processor-readable medium for encouraging energy-conscious behavior comprising processor-readable instructions configured to cause one or more processors to:

determine energy usage information for a plurality of structures, the energy usage information indicating an energy usage information associated with the plurality of structures;

compare the energy usage information of a first structure to the energy usage information associated with the plurality of structures;

determine one or more differences between the energy usage information of the first structure and the energy usage information associated with the plurality of structures based on the comparing; and

communicate to a first user linked with the first structure, the energy usage information of the first structure, the energy usage information associated with the plurality of structures, and an indication of the one or more differences.

18. The non-transitory processor-readable medium for encouraging energy-conscious behavior of claim 17, wherein the processor-readable instructions configured to cause the one or more processors to communicate to the first associated with the first structure comprise processor-readable instructions configured to cause the one or more processors to:

provide a graphical display that graphically indicates the energy usage information of the first structure, the energy usage information associated with the plurality of structures, and the indication of the one or more differences.

19. The non-transitory processor-readable medium for encouraging energy-conscious behavior of claim 17, wherein the plurality of structures are in a neighborhood of the first structure.

20. The non-transitory processor-readable medium for encouraging energy-conscious behavior of claim 19, wherein a zip code of the user is used to identify the plurality of structures determined to be in the neighborhood of the first structure.