A control unit is located under a kitchen sink. The control unit controls the timing of the power demand from each device so that they can all be run from a single electrical circuit coupled to the control unit. The control unit also accommodates sensors and other accessories such as flow meters, electronic faucets, leak detectors, shutoff valves, and state communication either wired or wireless which allows these sensors and other accessories to be added with little additional cost beyond the cost of the sensors and other accessories.

A power prediction system includes a battery removably mounted on an electric power device using electric power, a charging device configured to charge the battery, and a power prediction device configured to predict an amount of electric power capable of being supplied by the charging device to outside of the charging device through machine learning on the basis of usage information indicating at least one of the usage state and the usage environment of the charging device.

A method for remote monitoring includes (1) generating first sensor data from a first sensor at a first network node of a communications network and (2) sending the first sensor data from the first sensor to a second network node that is remote from the first network node, via the communications network. The first network node is powered from an electrical power grid that is separate from the communications network. The first sensor data may be raw sensor data and/or lossless sensor data.

Cooling device 1, in particular a freezer 2, having a closable cooling space 3, an electrically operated cooling circuit, and preferably a cold storage pack 4, wherein the at least one closable cooling space 3 and the cold storage pack 4 can be cooled by the electrically operated cooling circuit. The cooling device has a power distributor 5 for distributing electrical power of at least one regenerative power source 6 to an electrically operated cooling circuit of the cooling device 1 and to at least one further electricity consuming device 7. In addition, the power distributor 5 has a control system with a computing unit 23, a memory 24 and priority logic. The priority logic is used to preferentially supply the electrically operated cooling circuit of the cooling device 1 with electricity if there is a lack of electrical power of the at least one regenerative power source 6.

The present invention teaches methods of performing appliance itemization based on consumption data, including: receiving at a processor the data; determining if the data includes active signals and/or inactive signals; upon detection of an active signal: detecting and estimating active water heating consumption and lighting consumption; upon detection of an inactive signal: detecting and estimating passive water heating consumption, refrigerator consumption; and detecting vacation mode. Methods are disclosed of appliance itemization based whole house consumption data consumption from an advanced metering infrastructure device, the data being at 15, 30, or 60 minute intervals, including: applying disaggregation models to provide detection and estimation of any lighting, water heating, refrigeration, pool pumps, heating, or cooling appliances; applying rule-based models to provide detection and estimation of any cooking, laundry, entertainment, and/or miscellaneous appliances; wherein the disaggregation models and the rule-based models provide for a near complete appliance level itemization and estimation.

A control apparatus comprises: a first acquisition unit configured to acquire information indicating charging and discharging performance of an electric power device and environmental information on the electric power device; a second acquisition unit configured to acquire information indicating a characteristic of operation of charging and discharging the electric power device; a correction unit configured to correct the information indicating the charging and discharging performance of the electric power device on the basis of the environmental information; and a control unit configured to control the operation of charging and discharging the electric power device according to a management plan, the management plan being based on the information indicating the charging and discharging performance corrected by the correction unit and the information indicating the characteristic of the operation of charging and discharging the electric power device.

Disclosed are various embodiments for optimizing energy management. A quantity of renewable power that will be generated by renewable energy generation sources can be forecasted. The energy demand for a building or a cluster of buildings can be forecasted. A pricing model for buying energy from a grid can be determined. A quantity of energy to import from the grid or export to the grid can be scheduled based on the quantity of renewable energy forecasted and the state of charge or health of battery energy storage system, current and future operations of building HVAC, lighting and plug loads system, the forecasted energy demand for the building, and the pricing of the energy from the grid.

A method and apparatus is described for conveying the amount of loading of a power source to a load control device by controlling the frequency of the AC power output from that power source in a manner that controlled frequency represents the loading. At a different location in the power system, the frequency is measured and the corresponding loading of the power source is used to prevent or alleviate a power source overload.

A microgrid system controller includes a regulated bus, a variable-frequency drive (VFD) inverter, a generator coupled to a rotatable flywheel, a resistive load; and a plurality of actuatable switches. The microgrid system controller may also include a battery and charge controller or a battery storage device. The plurality of actuatable switches couple some of the various components.

An energy management system for an off-electric-grid solar house includes a battery pack that outputs a voltage based on load and has a linear relationship between output voltage and remaining capacity, and a solar energy power source that supplies electric power to be stored in the battery pack. One or more electric devices connected to the battery pack produce the load by drawing electric power from the battery pack. One or more sensors monitor conditions in the house. A control circuit is configured to control the one or more electric devices based on the monitored conditions and the remaining capacity in the battery pack, as the battery pack is charged by electricity from the solar energy power and discharged by load from the electric devices. The control circuit manages priority among the electric devices for changing operating status depending on remaining battery capacity.