Nowadays, consumers seem to have adopted a healthy lifestyle along with environment-conscious measures for an eco-friendly surrounding. Lending a helping hand, Belkin has now rolled out a router system which connects to users’ smart meter for easier usage and understanding of energy consumption, the Conserve Gateway (F7C001).
Users can conveniently track and decrease energy use in their homes as well as discover some conservation tips with the interface. The company developed Gateway’s protocol through an extensive ethnographic research which resulted that most people are unaware about the meaning of a kilowatt-hour and ignorant about the origin of the power. Most of the users have already installed smart meters and Belkin’s latest offering empowers them to understand the information delivered by it.
“We had participants jokingly claim that energy came from rubbing two sticks together. Insights like this led us to change the tone of the conversation people were having about energy conservation. Our system, from the friendly design language of the Gateway to the tone of our user interface, is like a friendly doctor,†explained Kevin Ashton, General Manager, Belkin Conserve. “We want to encourage good health and keep you focused on healthy behavior going forward. There’s no sense in yelling at you after you’ve eaten a bacon double cheeseburger. Let’s focus on the future.â€
Belkin conducted their own consumer research which revealed about users’ growing awareness of and their desire to reduce energy wastage. The Conserve Gateway has the capability to manage a home area network for accurate monitoring and control of in-home devices and appliances plus energy loads. It employs Smart Energy Profile certified ZigBee network interface in order to converse with smart meters featuring utility advanced metering infrastructure.
“The most successful smart meter implementations will be ones that drive compliance and encourage people to understand their energy use and feel motivated to conserve. Our strengths in understanding people’s needs and in user-centric design will help empower people to be smarter about how they consume. We’re helping people make progress every day,†added Ashton.
The eco-conscious device comes with a Wi-Fi or Ethernet network interface which allows communication with cloud-based device management system. This process is carried out by utilizing users’ home broadband router which then renders a substitute channel for utilities to interact with the Gateway. External antenna for optimum ZigBee pairing range and OTA software upgrades are also bundled in. Just to notify, the data communications across wired and wireless media in addition to networking protocols are safe and secure.
The Belkin Conserve Gateway F7C001 router is presently available. However, the pricing details are unknown as yet.
