It's the Bee's Knees
A Canadian startup has combined ZigBee technology with 'swarm intelligence' to create a smart system for optimizing energy consumption.
By Beth Bacheldor
Apr. 1, 2009—ZigBee—a communication standard for active 2.4 MHz, low-power wireless devices—and bumblebees have more in common than just their names. Regen Energy, a Toronto-based startup, has combined the two bees in an EnviroGrid system designed to manage energy consumption during peak demand, and thus reduce hefty electric bills.
The EnviroGrid system consists of smart controllers embedded with sensors that monitor energy consumption, and microchips encoded with unique identification numbers. The controllers share their sensor data and IDs with each other via the ZigBee IEEE 802.15.4 standard for creating mesh networks. Each controller determines when to regulate an electrical load, such as an HVAC (heating, ventilating and air conditioning) system, by evaluating its own data and the information from nearby controllers.
It's this "swarm intelligence" that differentiates EnviroGrid from other ZigBee home automation solutions, which monitor only individual utility meters or HVAC systems. Swarm intelligence is based on the collective behavior of decentralized, self-organized systems—think of the way bees work independently toward the shared goal of building a hive and making honey. EnviroGrid analyzes the collective data, then smooths out the combined electrical demand. "It's like sprinkling little brains on all these units so they don't all kick on at once," says Regen Energy chairman and CEO Mark Kerbel, who co-founded the company with CTO Roman Kulyk.
Apr. 1, 2009—ZigBee—a communication standard for active 2.4 MHz, low-power wireless devices—and bumblebees have more in common than just their names. Regen Energy, a Toronto-based startup, has combined the two bees in an EnviroGrid system designed to manage energy consumption during peak demand, and thus reduce hefty electric bills.
The EnviroGrid system consists of smart controllers embedded with sensors that monitor energy consumption, and microchips encoded with unique identification numbers. The controllers share their sensor data and IDs with each other via the ZigBee IEEE 802.15.4 standard for creating mesh networks. Each controller determines when to regulate an electrical load, such as an HVAC (heating, ventilating and air conditioning) system, by evaluating its own data and the information from nearby controllers.
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| The EnviroGrid system consists of smart controllers embedded with sensors that monitor energy consumption, and microchips encoded with unique identification numbers. |
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