Tesla's home battery pack

The device, which could be in homes by the end of summer, will be able to store electricity when conditions are favorable then discharge it again later in quantities large enough to be useful to homes and businesses.

The Powerwall is around three feet wide and four feet tall, weighs 220lbs, and can be installed either on an outside or inside wall of a home.

The 'daily use' version has a capacity of 7 kilowatt-hours, which is around a quarter of a home's daily usage.

IFTTT connects your home to the web

Just visit IFTTT.com using your iOS device or by using an internet browser to start creating and sharing Recipes with IFTTT.

IFTTT is an amazing new service that puts the internet to work for you. IFTTT lets you create 'Recipes' that connect apps, websites, and devices together to perform all kinds of custom tasks for you.

WeMo Switch

WeMo Switch is one of the basic home automation solutions available today.  It’s a smart plug that allows appliances to be controlled with a mobile device.  Using IFTTT, users can create their own recipes to manage it, or they can choose to use one of the recipes shared by other IFTTT users, such as using the Weather Channel to automatically control the WeMo Switch.

To use this weather-driven recipe, activate both the Weather Channel and the WeMo Switch Channel, then use the recipe created by IFTTT that would turn on the switch at sunset.  Users can plug in their lamp on the WeMo Switch and use this recipe so that lights automatically turn on when the sun sets.  

IFTTT If This Then That

IFTTT is an essential, easy-to-use tool that lets you automate your tech life.
IFTTT is truly one of the best free tools for any user. Hopefully this collection of money and time-saving recipes held something for you.
There are uses for it in home security and automation. The first step is checking to see if your system has a channel. The list is limited right now but growing. Even big players like ADT are taking notice of IFTTT. Currently there are channels for Nest, Philips Hue, Life360, SmartThings, WeMo, Quirky, Wink, Android, and iPhone. While home automation companies have started to open the door for developers to create products that play together, IFTTT takes it a step further by letting you connect stupid with smart things in an extremely easy to use 1+1=2 formula. 

The SmartThings team has created a whole list of popular recipes for those not feeling creative. There is a list of Triggers and a list of possible Alerts. Think switched on, off, open, closed, locked, unlocked, activate siren, motion, presence, temperature, humidity, moisture, or brightness as ingredients you can cook with. There are hundreds of possibilities. These ingredients can be used to make your life safer and easier if you want them to. Here are some recipes made by others that I found innovative:

• Use FourSquare to unlock your door with a #hashtag.
• Call your phone is motion is detected.
• Email you if it is freezing!
• Log events to your Google Drive.

£250 energy saving from new 'black box'

 

A new hi-tech way that is said to cut energy bills by up to a fifth is about to go on the market. The idea is that a “black box” will turn appliances, such as fridges, on and off in response to fluctuations in the wholesale price of electricity, which occur continuously throughout the day.

The devices will be offered to households later this next month by a new firm, Tempus Energy, which claims that customers will be able to save 20pc on their electricity bills by using so-called “demand response” technology that remotely manages their home appliances.

The black boxes are installed in the customer’s home and communicate with “smart” appliances such as dishwashers and storage heaters. The boxes receive instructions from the energy company, which uses complex technology to trade wholesale energy during the day. These prices change on a half-hourly basis.

For example, when energy is at its cheapest, the company’s computer system sends a message to each black box instructing it to switch on people’s appliances. At times of peak energy use, wholesale electricity costs more and the black box is told to switch householders’ devices off. For example, a fridge-freezer may be temporarily turned off in order to cut costs.

Tempus Energy claimed that its technology could cut the average energy bill, currently £1,265 a year, by more than £250.

“Smart” appliances, such as dishwashers and washing machines, that can be hooked up to a mobile phone, are already available in homes. Currently, they can be switched on and off remotely using a customer’s smartphone. The black box technology acts like the smartphone system but turns on the devices when electricity is at its cheapest.
As far as the bill payer is concerned, all he or she needs to do is to prepare, by making sure the dishwasher or washing machine is ready to go before bedtime, for example.
But could your television be automatically switched off during peak viewing hours? Tempus Energy says no. Certain tasks, such as making a cup of tea or watching a television programme, are “time-sensitive” and, therefore, cannot be switched off.

 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/household-bills/11196763/250-energy-saving-from-new-black-box.html