Metering & Smart Energy June 1, 2015
In the US, semiconductor chip maker Intel has this week announced the completion of a smart energy laboratory built in conjunction with China’s Smart Energy Industry Technology Innovation Strategy Union in a bid to promote ‘internet-connected energy’ in China and evaluate solutions in critical energy sectors.
The laboratory will utilise Intel hardware (Intel’s Quark processor) and the first China-initiated ICT standard, IEEE 1888, to “link industry partners from front-end to back-end” weigh up solutions in key energy verticals such as industrial construction.
ICT and standards facilitate smart energy development
The overall objective is to promote smart energy management to make optimum use of energy. Liu Dong, founder of the IEEE 1888 standard and director of the newly built lab, said that the facility will use Intel’s software and hardware environment, including a device-to-device IoT platform, along with the integration of standards from different sectors, including ISO, IEC and IEEE 18880.
In September 2013, the multinational semiconductor chip maker had set up an independent IoT division specialising in Internet of Things (IoT) development in retail, transportation, manufacturing, smart buildings and smart home.
Co-operation between the two parties began at the first Intel energy solution summit in 2014, where a strategic cooperation agreement was signed.
At the 3rd China Energy Conservation and Emission Reduction Standardized Technology Forum and Smart Energy International Summit, held in November 2013, Feng Fei, Director of the Industrial Department of the Development Research Center of State Council, China highlighted the pressing issue of “how to take advantage of information technologies to promote energy conservation and emission reduction with a low cost and a high efficiency was a problem worthy of our consideration and it was also important to form commercial modes consistent with the smart energy industry in the third industrial revolution.”
Liu Dong added that smart energy management would assist the country to use energy more effectively.
The strategic agreement also comes as result of the fact that the Chinese government spends almost 500bn yuan (US$80bn) in energy saving and carbon reduction annually.