Cambridge based Zigbee specialist, Ember has teamed up with Energy Optimisers in Grimsby to develop a new wireless plug-in electricity meter that the partners say could help companies and households shave hundreds to thousands of pounds off their electricity bills. The device, called the plogg, allows home and building owners to monitor how much electricity is being used by individual appliances and electronic devices so that energy efficiency can be improved. Recent studies by the British government and the Carbon Trust show that people can save five to 15 percent of the electricity they use by using smart meters to manage energy demands. The plogg is a combined smart meter plug and data logger, based on Ember’s ZigBee wireless technology running on a Telegesis module. It can be attached to any electrical appliance or device that uses a standard UK 13 Amp or European 16 Amp plug. A plogg for the North American market is currently under evaluation. The plogg stores the measured electricity data and wirelessly communicates this information to a PC, mobile phone or building management system anywhere in the world through an Internet-linked Ethernet gateway. One possible application according to the two companies, is in the catering industry, where ploggs could be used to monitor energy use by refrigeration and air conditioning units, with all the information collected at a central point via the internet. Upon discovering that some air conditioners were left on after business hours, the plogg would allow them to switch off air conditioning units by remote activation, or alert a manager that a unit needs servicing. The plogg meters can support a range of other wireless-based energy saving devices as well, such as temperature and light level sensors. Using Ember’s EM250 ZigBee “system-on-chip” transceiver and EmberZNet PRO wireless mesh networking software running on a Telegesis module, a network of ploggs can self organize to provide robust coverage of the home or building. The plogg can act as an end device, a router or ZigBee coordinator. It is available as a stand-alone end-user device, or part of an energy reporting network, or as an embeddable device for OEM products. Ember is headquartered in Boston in the US and has its radio development center in Cambridge. The Cambridge operation was formed after the company acquired ZigBee intellectual property, along with the development team behind it, from Cambridge Consultants in 2004. The company reported a record year in 2007 in product shipments, new customer wins and widespread commercial deployment of its technology.

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