Smart plugs for building energy management systems

Due to rising value of energy supplies, the need for managing electrical energy sources becomes prominent. In this paper, a smart plug device is presented; which provides features to measure energy consumption and recognizes the type of attached electrical devices. Furthermore, the proposed framework enables home controller systems to monitor and control home energy consumption efficiently. Subsequently an analysis of energy consumption of a pilot house, prior and after the installation of the smart plug, based on a hypothetical scenario, is provided. The results present positive impacts of using the smart plug on energy consumption rate; especially during peak hours.