Intel Pushes Farther into the Energy Sector

by Justin Manger on April 21st, 2010

“Intel’s new device can read your dryer’s mind.”

That’s how Wired put it in a recent article on the microchip company’s push into the home, car, and energy consumption markets. As the IT (information technology) and ET (energy technology) revolutions continue to merge and feed off of each other, Intel stands at the crossroads. The device unveiled in China last week is a sensor that monitors the power consumption of appliances in the home or in small commercial buildings in real time. That data can then be sent to a smart phone, PC, or energy management console, giving the consumer insight into their energy usage and allowing them increased flexibility in managing it. Intel Chief Technology Officer and managing director of Intel Labs, Justin Rattner, echoed a sentiment we often share at 2nd Green:

“Consumer empowerment is critical. Individual consumers must have the information, tools and incentives to conserve scarce energy resources, minimize their carbon impact and keep their energy budgets under control. If we can make energy more personalized with real-time information and offer visual tools that engage entire communities, it will lead to valuable changes in behavior and save staggering amounts of energy.”

The first commercially available devices expected to go on sale later this year, with the low-cost sensor needing only to be plugged into the house wiring to instantaneously measure and wirelessly report the power consumption of each electrical load in the home. Rattner remarked that installing such sensors “could help a U.S. household save up to $470 per year in electricity costs. Given that the U.S. has 113 million households, the potential savings is over $50 billion a year.” This also removes a step and makes tracking energy usage more convenient than other devices like the Kill-a-watt.

Video and photos from last week’s Intel Developer Forum can be viewed at www.intel.com/pressroom/IDF.

Here are a few other energy related areas where Intel is expanding its presence (from Wired):

Smart grid: Intel is working with the State Grid Corporation in China. It is also a big supporter of Grid Net, the company that wants to use WiMax in the grid. Intel has been behind the WiMax concept since the beginning.
Wind: There are ten processors in the average wind turbine. Intel sells to some large vendors already. The company is already an investor in CPower.

Green IT: Intel in 2001 kicked off an effort to reduce power consumption in chips. That was to prevent computers from melting. The company shifted its emphasis to power savings as electricity prices climbed.
Solar: Intel has spun out a few startups in solar already and Intel Capital has invested in some as well. Solar cells are basically just semiconductors. Intel may not ever produce solar cells itself, but expect it to try to get its technology for chips more integrated into solar.

- Justin Manger

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