A power meter or other electrical device is provided having two independent and communicatively isolated Ethernet ports. The first Ethernet port is addressable by a first unique identifier and is configured for enabling full access to the power meter via an internal LAN. This enables a LAN operator to remotely access the power meter via the internal LAN for performing metering functions, such as full telemetry, control and programming. The second Ethernet port is addressable by a second unique identifier and is configured for being connected to the Internet. Since the second Ethernet port is communicatively isolated from the first Ethernet port, a user can access the power meter via the Internet, but cannot access the internal LAN by connecting to the power meter via the Internet.

The preset invention is directed to a building energy management system and method, more specifically to a building energy management system and method that can quickly detect and control an abnormal situation or an emergency situation that may occur within a building.

A method for controlling intelligent household appliances, comprising: acquiring an appliance control signal set and an initialization feedback signal set corresponding to the control signal set, and sending a control signal; receiving the control signal, sending the control signal to the household appliance to instruct the household appliance to perform an operation represented by the control signal; acquiring state information and a feedback signal of the household appliance; and calculating a variation amount of the state information, and judging a matching rate between the feedback signal and the initialization feedback signal The present invention also provides an intelligent socket, which can allow a terminal to obtain an actual control result after a control instruction being sent An intelligent socket based on a high power infrared emitting tube, wherein the high power infrared emitting tube is provided in a limiting hole for infrared emission in a direction away from a panel.

An electrical power supply arrangement includes a solar power device that converts sunlight into DC electrical power. A DC load runs on the DC current electrical power. The DC load may be controlled or adjusted to consume a maximum amount of the electrical output of the solar power device. A DC-to-AC converter converts the DC electrical power into AC electrical power. A controller enables the DC-to-AC converter to receive a portion of the DC current electrical power from the solar power device only if all of the DC current electrical power cannot be consumed by the DC load.

A hub device adapted to simultaneously communicate to a user two or more parameters of energy use by a household, the device includes a metering communication link that is adapted to communicate with a meter to receive usage data describing energy supplied to the household.

A control system is disclosed that includes a room controller transmitting signals to both a shade control network and a light control network, directing that motorized roller shades and dimmable lights be set to desired intensity levels. The control system further includes an intelligent hub that provides a trickle-charge re-charge current via power-over-Ethernet cables to batteries associated with each of the motorized roller shades for re-charging the batteries, thereby eliminating power supplies being installed within walls. The intelligent hub provides for communication with the room controller based on streaming protocol and with the shade control network based on event-based protocol. A computer running user-interface software can be connected to the system to facilitate programming.

An electronic system for power consumption management of one or more domestic appliances is routinely informed on actual energy tariff through a network control unit or through a predetermined time-table stored in the system. A user interface of the electronic system is provided where the user can set his preference concerning the switch-on time of each appliance and/or function thereof and read the related estimated energy consumption and/or energy cost of the appliance working program.

A network system is provided. The network system includes: at least one component selected from an energy receiving unit receiving energy and an energy management unit managing the energy receiving unit. The energy receiving unit or the energy management unit receives energy rate related information; an energy usage amount or a usage rate of when the component is controlled on the basis of at least the energy rate related information is less than that of when the component is controlled without the basis of at least energy rate related information; if the energy rate related information is high cost information, a function of one component constituting the energy receiving unit is limited; and an operating time or an output of the energy receiving unit is adjusted in correspondence to the limited function of one component.

A technique for managing power usage in a local communication network. The network includes at least one device having at least one operation phase. A processing unit receives information related to at least one operation phase of the device after detecting an operation phase change. The information includes power used by the device during the phase and an estimated duration of the phase. The processing unit determines projected power usage within the local network for the duration of the operation of the device, the projected power usage taking the form of at least one power usage increment and an associated increment duration. For a power usage increment, the processing unit: determines an output current to be output by at least one battery in order to at least partially compensate the increment; and sends, to the battery, a command to discharge the output current determined for the duration of the increment.

A power supply management system according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a fee setting unit configured to set power fee unit prices (first power fee unit price and second power fee unit price for each time slot, and a notification unit configured to notify a consumer of information on the set power fee unit prices. The first power fee unit price is a power unit price for a household electrical load, and the second power fee unit price is a power unit price in a case of using a charge/discharge device to charge a vehicle-mounted storage battery. The fee setting unit is configured to set, by predicting a load factor of a transformer, a discount rate of the second power fee unit price to become higher (second power fee unit price to become lower) as the predicted load factor becomes lower. The second power fee unit price is determined on the basis of the first power fee unit price and the discount rate.