專用集成電路促進家庭能源管理系統設計

　　對于消費者來說，家庭能源中心提供了將電力利用數據轉化為可操作信息的關鍵環節。這些系統作為實用智能電表和個人能源消費產品之間的接口，提供了一種監測和控制實時能源使用的方法。通過收集家用產品的能源使用數據，并將這些發現與實用數據和智能儀表的其他使用信息相結合，這些系統能夠為消費者提供有關其能源使用的具體信息。

　　有了這個實時的能源使用信息，消費者可以查看整體的能源消耗模式，并更好地了解整個住宅的電力使用情況，以及特定設備的使用情況。反過來，消費者可以設置這些能源管理系統，以優化家庭能源使用-延遲洗衣機，如消耗大量的能源，但其操作可以推遲到利用低利率在非繁忙時間。

　　This sort of ability to view actual energy usage easily is critical for energy conservation. In industry studies， direct feedback about energy usage through these kinds of systems resulted in energy savings ranging from 5 percent to 15 percent.1 Although some consumers have expressed concerns about privacy issues， 97 percent of utility customers participating in a pilot program said they would continue using the devices in their homes and 71 percent said they had already changed their energy usage as a result of their ability to access data through the system.

　　For engineers， building cost-effective energy management systems has become simpler thanks to a broad range of ICs from manufacturers including Analog Devices， Cirrus Logic， Freescale Semiconductor， Maxim Integrated Products， Microchip Technology， NXP Semiconductors，STMicroelectronics， and Texas Instruments， among others.