Wireless Sensor Networks for domestic energy management in smart grids

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) are getting more integrated to our daily lives and smart surroundings as they are being used for health, comfort and safety applications. In smart homes and office environments, WSNs are generally used to increase the inhabitant comfort. As the current energy grid is evolving into a smart grid, where consumers can directly reach and control their consumption, WSNs can take part in domestic energy management systems, as well. In this paper, we propose the Appliance Coordination (ACORD) scheme, that uses the in-home WSN and reduces the cost of energy consumption. The cost of energy increases at peak hours, hence reducing the peak demand is a major concern for utility companies. The ACORD scheme, aims to shift consumer demands to off-peak hours. Appliances use the readily available in-home WSN to deliver consumer requests to the Energy Management Unit (EMU). EMU schedules consumer requests with the goal of reducing the energy bill. We show that ACORD decreases the cost of electricity usage of home appliances significantly.