'Black boxes' improving electricity in homes
State Grid staffers install a black box on electricity meters of households in the the Wukang Building, formerly the Normandie Apartments.
When people think about the Wukang Building, formerly the Normandie Apartments, the first thought is often its French Renaissance style and rich history associated with the ups and downs of the cultural celebrities of Shanghai.
But the engineers from State Grid Shanghai Group have added some modernized features to the legacy that Hungarian-Slovak architect Laszlo Hudec left for the city in 1924.
Tenfamilies living in the building installed a small black box on their electricity meters. The boxes are sensors monitoring the power consumption of these residents. The data these sensors collect goes to the power company with its ubiquitous Internet of Things.
State grid is now able to grasp the “fingerprint” of the power consumption of the building. Chen Ming, an engineer from the company, said the sensors allowed them to see the real-time data of each electrical item's power usage.
“We now know the power usage of a resident's air-conditioning," said Chen, “We can even monitor how long the AC worked during the day.”
Previously, the company could only see an overall figure of the power consumption of each household. With the internet of Things, State Grid is now able to see the power consumption of each appliance and provide individualized power plans for different residents with different power usages.
Meanwhile, State Grid is developing a mini-program on WeChat that allows the residents to track their own power usage.
Zhang Fan, deputy director of the Internet office of the company, said the residents will be able to see their own power consumption, they can also find out the malfunctions of their equipment and take measures to avoid fire.
“For example, if the current flow of a conditioner continues to increase, then there is something wrong with this device,” said Zhang. “In general, equipment aging would result in more energy consumption.”
Another reason the company chose Wukang Building is that many of the residents in the building are elderly.
“If we spot any abnormal power usage for example, the AC is not working, or the TV is switched on for too long,” Zhang said, "we will reach out to the elderly residents as soon as possible to see if they are doing alright.”
