Echelon Corporation (NASDAQ: ELON) has selected Green Energy Options Ltd. (GEO) to develop user interface displays for its advanced metering infrastructure solution, called Networked Energy Services (NES).
Last week the U.K. government confirmed plans to require all households to have smart meters by 2020, and that each home must be supplied with a real-time energy display to show consumers how much energy is being used throughout the day.
GEO’s (www.greenenergyoptions.co.uk) energy displays use ZigBee wireless protocols to communicate directly with Echelon’s NES smart meters, providing current and historical energy use, pricing information, and energy performance comparisons to consumers in real-time using a portable, graphic display.
In addition to energy displays for smart metering applications, GEO also manufactures smart energy plugs using Echelon’s power line communications technology to remotely control home appliances and measure energy use of individual appliances.
Patrick Caiger-Smith, CEO, GEO said: “Consumers can reduce energy use and save money, and collectively we can affect climate change by learning to use energy more wisely. Empowering consumers to monitor and control energy expenditures is a key objective for the U.K. and other European governments, and, as an integral part of the smart gird, a huge market opportunity for us.” Analysts estimate that the European smart meter market will reach $11 billion by 2015.
