Local Energy Network Interface

Once you start generating your own energy, you can also start saving money. But optimizing the financial returns on your investment is rewarding in more ways than one: it will also ensure that energy is not wasted. And while saving money can be fun, you don't want to spend too much time looking after your system. This is where the Qurrent Qbox comes in.

The Qbox is a Local Energy Network (LEN) Interface. It is at the heart of a building's infrastructure and it communicates with the surrounding buildings.

:: Knowing your energy rates
Making smart use of your electricity sources (solar, wind and utility grid) will become more important because the cost of electricity will rise sharply over the next few years. Rates will also vary more and more in the future, possibly every 15 minutes. Add government subsidies for self produced power and you can easily see the complexity of optimizing a system.

:: Sharing with the neighbors
The Qurrent Qbox will handle this complicated task completely autonomously. It will measure all electricity production and consumption and will make it possible to share capacities with your neighborhood, or cluster. In that process it will take into account the energy rates, however varying they may be, government subsidies, your production and consumption profiles and personal preferences you might have. All without you having to look after it.

:: Switching your appliances and more...
The Qbox can autonomously switch on your washing machine when it is most efficient; of course within the limits that you set. For instance, you can tell the Qbox that you want your laundry done no later than at 18.00 hours and that it will take about 1,5 hours. You can then go to work and the Qbox will decide what will be the best time to run it. Taking into account your production profiles, energy rates, but also the consumption- and production of your neighbors; making sure that self-produced energy is used to the maximum.

The Qbox comes with two standard switches but can be expanded to have more than one hundred switches. This allows you to both control other energy-equipment, such as heat pumps and hydrogen systems, but also to switch appliances in the building, further optimizing energy efficiency.

:: Storing your data
As mentioned before, the Qbox measures your energy at a very detailed level. The data is then transferred to the central Qurrent Qserver which holds all records. Then, when you logon to the Qmunity website, you can analyze your energy in great detail if you like. All energy data is stored indefinitely but secured according to the highest privacy standards and laws.

For more info:  http://www.qurrent.com/ENG/prodQBox.aspx