In addition to GE’s current portfolio of energy-efficient lighting and appliances products and demand response technology that GE is currently developing, it plans to develop residential power generation products such as PV solar and residential wind products which will help existing homeowners and construction companies to develop net zero energy dwellings.
“We have a long, trusted relationship with consumers, strong presence with home builders, demand response appliance technology and, the extremely critical, smart grid technology leadership of GE Energy that makes the GE net zero energy home an exciting prospect for our future growth,” said GE Consumer & Industrial President and CEO James Campbell.
The GE net zero energy home products will be grouped into three major categories: energy efficient products, energy management products and energy generation/storage products.
Energy efficiency products
GE’s portfolio of energy efficient appliance and lighting products will help enable the net zero energy home by reducing energy consumption in the home. GE currently has over 550 ENERGY STAR® qualified appliances in its portfolio, while GE Consumer & Industrial has received the ENERGY STAR® Sustained Excellence award for the fourth consecutive year.
Energy management/demand response appliances
GE demand response products will enable consumers to manage their costs and energy consumption while helping reduce utility demand peaks, thereby reducing the need for more power generation – depending on utility participation.
GE plans to be the first manufacturer to offer a full suite of demand response appliances that will work with utility smart meters to help shed load from the grid, while helping consumers save money during peak demand usage and pricing times. GE appliances and products will work with smart meters to delay or reduce energy use without major interruption to consumer’s lifestyles by giving the consumer control over their energy use.
As the second single largest energy users in the home, incorporating highly efficient water heaters into the net zero energy homes is critical. GE will offer the its innovative GE Hybrid Electric Heat Pump Water Heater with demand response technology in late 2009. The new GE Hybrid Electric Heat Pump Water Heater is designed to use about 2300 kWh per year, which is less than half of the energy of a 50-gallon tank water heater that uses approximately 4800 kWh per year. The energy savings of approximately 2500 kWh per year represents a savings of about $250 per year based on 10.65 cents per kWh.
In 2010, GE will also introduce the Home Energy Manager – the central nervous system for the net zero energy home that will work in conjunction with all the other enabling technologies in the home to help homeowners to optimize how they consume energy. In addition to the Home Energy Manger, GE will introduce a line of smart thermostats, also available in 2010. Together, the Home Energy Manager and smart thermostats will inform consumers when and how they are using energy and empower them to make decisions when they should use energy from the grid, use stored energy, and self generated energy or other sources since up to 31% of the homes energy use comes from HVAC, the smart thermostats can help consumers significantly save on their energy bills.
Distributed generation/storage
Collaborating with GE Energy, products like PV solar, advanced energy storage, next generation thin film solar, small wind, and, in the coming years, other generation products being developed at the Global Research Center, will play an integral part in the Net Zero Energy Home.
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