Smart Home Performance
Home Energy Management Systems (HEMS) – defined as any hardware or software system that can monitor and provide feedback about a home’s energy usage and/or enable advanced control of energy-using systems and devices in a home – are changing how utilities communicate with their customers and help them manage their energy load.
HEMS, and other smart grid technologies, are typically offered to utility customers as part of a demand response program. But increasingly, industry stakeholders are realizing that these technologies can be used to increase residential energy efficiency savings.
The Association works in partnership with the Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships (NEEP), energy efficiency programs, and HEMS manufacturers to identify and expand opportunities for integrating HEMS technologies into residential energy efficiency. The Association and NEEP co-chair a HEMS working group that brings together leaders in the energy efficiency program industry and HEMS manufacturers to increase HEMS adoption. BPA also authors reports and organizes an annual smart home track at the National Home Performance Conference, which brings together experts in the energy efficiency, demand response, and technology sectors.
Over the next year, BPA will be promoting the use of HEMS and other smart grid technologies to better identify leaky homes, support traditional Evaluation, Measurement and Verification (EM&V) with real-time energy performance data, and provide real-time performance feedback to home performance contractors so that contractors are better able to understand the impact of their work.
See the latest report, "Redefining Home Performance in the 21st Century - How the Smart Home Could Revolutionize the Industry and Transform the Home-to-Grid Connection."
Additional smart home and smart home technology resources can be found at www.SmartOnSmart.org.
For more information on this initiative or to join the HEMS working group, please contact Kara Saul-Rinaldi, Vice President of Government Affairs and Policy, at kara.saul-rinaldi@building-performance.org.