WO2010022438A1

WO2010022438A1 - An electricity management device, an electrical appliance, a system for authorising electrical appliances to utilise electricity and a method of delivering renewable energy into a power grid

Info

Publication number: WO2010022438A1
Application number: PCT/AU2009/001048
Authority: WO
Inventors: Bruce Michael Johansson
Original assignee: Cleanpoint Holdings Pty Ltd
Priority date: 2008-08-25
Filing date: 2009-08-17
Publication date: 2010-03-04
Also published as: AU2009287406A1; AU2016200653A1; EP2329582A1

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to an electricity management device comprising an electricity input adapted to receive electricity from a power utility; an electricity output adapted to output electricity received by the electricity input to one or more appliances; a signal receiver adapted to receive appliance data corresponding to the one or more appliances; and a processing unit operatively connected to the signal receiver and adapted to send the appliance data for the one or more appliances to the power utility. Advantageously, data in relation to the appliances being used can be supplied to the power utility. The power utility may then forward this information to a third party.

Description

AN ELECTRICITY MANAGEMENT DEVICE, AN ELECTRICAL APPLIANCE, A

SYSTEM FORAUTHORISING ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES TO UTILISE ELECTRICITY AND A METHOD OF DELIVERING RENEWABLE ENERGY INTO A

POWER GRID

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to energy management and in particular to an electricity management device, an electrical appliance, a system for authorising electrical appliances to utilise electricity and a method of delivering renewable energy into a power grid. The invention has been developed primarily for use with managing the supply of electrical power and will be described hereinafter with reference to this application. However, it will be appreciated that the invention is not limited to this particular field of use.

Background of the Invention

The use of renewable energy to replace traditional carbon based sources is becoming increasingly recognised and common-place throughout the world.

The inventor has recognised that society faces difficulties in the delivery of renewable energy to consumers, and in particular, that renewable energy cannot be selectively delivered to:

1.A consumer in other than as an arbitrary proportion of overall usage, or

2. An appliance at the consumer's premises or being managed by the consumer. Thus, current systems have the following disadvantages:

1.A consumer cannot choose to use renewable energy for a particular appliance without installing a separate renewable energy system or choosing to power all appliances within the circuit from renewable energy.

2.A consumer cannot obtain accurate usage information in relation to the combination of conventional and renewable energy which may be being supplied to them.

3. A government cannot mandate the use of renewable energy for certain appliances.

Thus, the present invention seeks to provide an electricity management device, an electrical appliance, a system for authorising electrical appliances to utilise electricity and a method of delivering renewable energy into a power grid which will overcome or substantially ameliorate at least some of the deficiencies of the prior art, or to at least provide an alternative.

It is to be understood that, if any prior art information is referred to herein, such reference does not constitute an admission that the information forms a part of the common general knowledge in the art, in Australia or any other country.

Summary of the Invention

According to a first aspect of the present invention, an electricity management device is provided, comprising:

- two or more electricity inputs adapted to receive electricity from two or more respective power utilities;

- one or more electricity outputs adapted to output electricity received by the electricity inputs;

- a signal receiver adapted to receive one or more appliance identification signals corresponding to one or more appliances via the one or more electricity outputs; and - a processing unit adapted to allow a user to select from which of the two or more electricity inputs, electricity will be supplied to the or one of the electricity outputs to then be delivered to the one or more appliances.

Advantageously:

1. Renewable energy can be selectively delivered to a consumer. That is, a consumer can choose the source of energy delivered to them( by arrangement with the utility which through signalling from the appliance is aware of the energy consumption and accordingly with which source of energy to replace the consumed energy). For example, the consumer might choose between community-based solar, wind, tidal or even nuclear generated electricity. 2. Renewable energy can be selectively delivered to an appliance at the consumer's premises or being managed by the consumer. Thus, a consumer can choose to use renewable energy for a particular appliance without installing a separate renewable energy system.

3.A consumer can obtain accurate usage information in relation to the combination of conventional and renewable energy which may be being supplied to them. 4. Different sources of energy can be identified, billed and treated in different ways. For example, a consumer can be charged a tariff which can be calculated based on either or both of: (A) the appliance which is operated, and (B) the energy source they select.

5. Products or energy services can be marketed in a positive manner (e.g. on the basis of contribution to the environment, low tariffs or both).

Preferably, the processing unit is further adapted to process the one or more appliance identification signals to compute whether electricity should be allowed to flow from one of the electricity inputs to the or one of the electricity outputs and thus whether the one or more appliances will receive power. Advantageously, a government can mandate the use of a certain type of energy for certain appliances.

Preferably, the processing unit is further adapted to compute, based on the one or more appliance identification signals, from which of the two or more electricity inputs electricity is to be received, to be outputted to the electricity output corresponding to the one or more electrical appliances sending the one or more appliance identification signals, in use.

Preferably, the processing unit is further adapted to compute, based on the one or more appliance identification signals, whether the one or more electrical appliances must only receive renewable electricity.

Advantageously, the electricity management device can automatically determine whether an appliance is to receive conventional or renewable energy. Advantageously, a government can mandate the use of renewable energy for certain appliances to enforce the use of low- emission power sources for the appliance.

Preferably, the electricity management device further comprises a user interface connected to the processing unit and wherein the processing unit is further adapted to allow a user to select a desired electricity input from the two or more electricity inputs using the user interface.

Advantageously, a user can readily choose what type of electricity to use to run their appliance.

Preferably, at least one of the two or more electricity inputs is connected to an electricity meter.

Preferably, the processing unit further comprises a signal generator and is adapted to output management signals to the electricity meter via the signal generator. Preferably, at least one of the two or more electricity inputs is connected to an electricity utility.

Preferably, the processing unit further comprises a signal generator and is adapted to output management signals to the electricity utility via the signal generator. Advantageously, the management information can be used by a consumer, government or utility for such purposes as reducing energy costs or usage.

Preferably, the output management signals correspond to one or more management information types from the following group of management information types:

(i) appliance identifier; (ii) appliance electricity consumption;

(iii) time and date of appliance electricity usage; and (iv) duration of appliance electricity usage.

Preferably, the electricity management device is adapted to store one or more management information types from the following group of management information types: (i) appliance identifier;

(ii) appliance electricity consumption;

(iii) time and date of appliance electricity usage; and

(iv) duration of appliance electricity usage.

Preferably, the electricity management device further comprises communication means for communicating with one or more of the following external devices:

(i) a smart card;

(ii) a blue tooth enabled phone; and

(iii) a modem.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, an electrical appliance is provided, comprising:

- an electricity input,

- a signal generator, and

- an identifier memory for storing an appliance identifier corresponding to the electrical appliance, the signal generator being adapted to output an appliance identification signal corresponding to the appliance identifier stored in the identifier memory through the electricity input.

Advantageously, the electrical appliance can be identified electronically.

Preferably, the electrical appliance further comprises a signal receiver adapted to receive input signals through the electricity input and to instruct the signal generator to output the appliance identification signal through the electricity input.

Advantageously, the electrical appliance can identify itself in response to an input signal.

Preferably, the signal generator is adapted to broadcast the appliance identification signal through the electricity input either continuously or at predetermined intervals in time. Preferably, the identifier memory is integrated into the circuitry of the electrical appliance such that the identifier memory cannot be readily tampered with.

Preferably, the identifier memory is a station for receiving an external memory device.

Preferably, the appliance identifier comprises one or more appliance information types from the following group of appliance information types: (i) manufacturer number;

(ii) model number;

(iii) serial number or range of serial numbers; and (iv) appliance class.

Preferably, the electrical appliance further comprises a smart power plug having plug memory storing a plug identifier, and being adapted to communicate the plug identifier by a data communications protocol over power lines.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, a system is provided for authorising electrical appliances to utilise electricity provided by a power utility, comprising:

- one or more electrical appliances as described in any one of the above paragraphs; and

- an electricity management device as described in any one of the above paragraphs, the at least one electricity output of the electricity management device being electrically connected to the electricity input of the one or more electrical appliances by electrical connection means, - the system being such that when the one or more electrical appliances are turned on, the signal generator of the or each electrical appliance sends an appliance identification and power request signal to the signal receiver of the electricity management device, the signal receiver forwards the appliance identification and power request signal to the processing unit of the electricity management device which is adapted to recognise the appliance identification and power request signal and compute whether or not the electricity management device is to provide power to the or each electrical appliance.

Advantageously:

1.A government can mandate and enforce the use of renewable energy for certain appliances. 2. Different sources of energy can be identified, billed and treated in different ways. For example, a consumer can be charged a tariff which can be calculated based on either or both of: (A) the appliance which is operated, and (B) the energy source they select.

Preferably, the processing unit is further adapted such that upon receiving the or each appliance identification and power request signal, it can authorise or withhold an authorisation signal for the or each electrical appliance to operate.

Preferably, the authorisation signal includes time and date information.

Preferably, the authorisation signal is also stored in memory or sent to at least one of the one or more power utilities.

Advantageously, a government can obtain accurate usage information in relation to the combination of conventional and renewable energy supplied.

Preferably, the electricity management device is adapted to not supply electricity to any appliance requiring a smart power plug to receive a supply of electricity, until a plug identifier of the smart power plug is recognised by the processing unit.

Preferably, the processing unit is further adapted to compute based on an appliance identifier whether the corresponding appliance is such that it must be connected to a building grid via the smart power plug.

Preferably, the electricity management device is further adapted to generate an alert signal if an appliance that must be connected to a building grid using a smart power plug is identified as being connected to the building grid without a smart power plug. Preferably, the electricity management device is adapted to forward the alert signal to at least one of the one or more power utilities. Advantageously, this helps stop consumers bypassing a government or utility electricity usage policy.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, an electricity management device is provided, comprising: - an electricity input adapted to receive electricity from a power utility;

- an electricity output adapted to output electricity received by the electricity input;

- a signal receiver adapted to receive one or more appliance identification signals corresponding to one or more appliances via the electricity output; and

- a processing unit adapted to send energy usage information for the one or more appliances to the power utility.

Advantageously:

1. Renewable energy can be allocated for an appliance at the consumer's premises or being managed by the consumer as the utility is aware, through signalling from the appliance, of the energy consumption and accordingly with which source of energy to replace the consumed energy. Thus, a consumer can effectively choose to use renewable energy for a particular appliance without installing a separate renewable energy system.

2.A consumer can obtain accurate usage information in relation to the combination of conventional and renewable energy which may be being supplied to them. 3. Different sources of energy can be identified, billed and treated in different ways. For example, a consumer can be charged a tariff which can be calculated based on either or both of: (A) the appliance which is operated, (B) the energy source they select and/or (C) the number of appliances in a certain class of appliance being used.

4. Products or energy services can be marketed in a positive manner (e.g. on the basis of contribution to the environment, low tariffs or both).

Preferably, the processing unit is adapted to send energy usage information for the one or more appliances to the power utility by a data communications protocol over power lines or wirelessly.

Advantageously, no further electrical lines are required between the electricity management device and the power utility. Preferably, the processing unit comprises authorisation data and is further adapted to process the one or more appliance identification signals to compute, based at least on the authorisation data, whether the one or more appliances should receive authorised electricity.

Preferably, the or each of the one or more appliance identification signals comprises appliance class information and wherein the processing unit is further adapted to compute based at least on the authorisation data and on the appliance class information whether the or each appliance should receive authorised electricity.

Preferably, the processing unit is further adapted to compute whether the or each appliance should receive authorised electricity based at least on the authorisation data and on the number of other appliances of the same appliance class receiving authorised electricity at that time.

Advantageously, energy usage policies can be created and enforced restricting the use of too many of a certain type of appliance. For example, the government may choose to create a policy whereby each residential address is restricted to a maximum number of simultaneously operating air-conditioning units so as to moderate excessive demands to the power grid on hot days.

Preferably, the processing unit is further adapted to receive authorisation data updates from the power utility.

Preferably, the authorisation data updates are received by a data communications protocol over power lines.

Preferably, the electricity management device further comprises a wireless communications unit and the authorisation data updates are received wirelessly via the wireless communications unit.

Advantageously, energy usage policies can be readily updated. Preferably, the electricity management device further comprises a user interface operatively connected to the processing unit, the user interface being adapted to show energy usage information and to allow a user to allocate a source or combination of sources of electricity for the or each appliance.

Advantageously, environmentally aware consumers can choose to power all or certain appliances from a renewable energy source.

Preferably, the electricity output is adapted for connection to an electricity meter. Preferably, the processing unit further comprises a signal generator and is adapted to output the energy usage information to the power utility via the signal generator.

Preferably, the energy usage information corresponds to one or more energy usage information types from the following group of energy usage information types: (i) appliance identifier;

(ii) appliance electricity consumption;

(iii) time and date of appliance electricity usage; and

(iv) duration of appliance electricity usage.

Preferably, the electricity management device is adapted to store one or more energy usage information types from the following group of energy usage information types:

(i) appliance identifier;

(ii) appliance electricity consumption;

(iii) time and date of appliance electricity usage; and

(iv) duration of appliance electricity usage. Preferably, the electricity management device, further comprises communication means for communicating with one or more of the following external devices:

(i) a smart card; and

(ii) a blue tooth enabled phone

Preferably, the electrical appliance further comprises a smart power plug having plug memory storing the appliance identifier and being adapted to communicate the appliance identifier by a data communications protocol over power lines.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, a system is provided for authorising electrical appliances to utilise electricity from a power utility, comprising:

- an electricity management device as described in any one of the above paragraphs, the electricity output of the electricity management device being electrically connected to the electricity input of the one or more electrical appliances via an electricity meter which records the electricity usage of the one or more electrical appliances, - the system being such that when the one or more electrical appliances are turned on, the signal generator of the or each electrical appliance sends an appliance identification and power request signal to the signal receiver of the electricity management device, the signal receiver forwards the or each appliance identification and power request signal to the processing unit of the electricity management device which is adapted to recognise the or each appliance identification and power request signal and to compute whether or not authorised electricity should be provided to the one or more electrical appliances.

Advantageously: 1.A government can mandate the use of renewable energy for certain appliances and incentivise correct usage and/or penalise incorrect usage.

2. Different sources of energy can be identified, billed and treated in different ways. For example, a consumer can be charged a tariff which can be calculated based on either or both of: (A) the appliance which is operated, (B) the energy source they select and/or (C) the number of appliances in a certain class of appliance being used.

Preferably, the electricity management device is adapted to not supply authorised electricity to an appliance requiring a smart power plug to receive a supply of electricity, until a plug identifier of the smart power plug is recognised by the processing unit.

Preferably, the electricity management device is further adapted to generate an alert signal if an appliance that must be connected to a building grid using a smart power plug is identified as being connected to the building grid without a smart power plug and to forward the alert signal to the power utility by a data communications protocol over power lines or wirelessly.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, a method of delivering renewable energy into a power grid is provided, comprising the following steps: - receiving electricity usage information for one or more electrical appliances by a data communications protocol over power lines or wirelessly;

- billing a customer for the electricity used by the one or more electrical appliances; and

- distributing an amount of renewable electricity into the power grid corresponding to the electricity usage information. According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, an electricity management device is provided, comprising:

- an electricity input adapted to receive electricity from a power utility; - an electricity output adapted to output electricity received by the electricity input to one or more appliances;

- a signal receiver adapted to receive appliance data corresponding to the one or more appliances; and a processing unit operatively connected to the signal receiver and adapted to send the appliance data for the one or more appliances to the power utility.

Advantageously, data in relation to the appliances being used (e.g. electricity usage) can be supplied to the power utility. The power utility may then forward this information (with permission) to a third party. Preferably, the appliance data is received by the signal receiver via the electricity output.

Advantageously, no further communication means is required between the electricity management device and the power utility.

Preferably, the processing unit is adapted to send the appliance data to the power utility by one of the following means: (i) a fiber distributed data interface network;

(ii) a GPRS network;

(iii) a 3G network;

(iv) a 4G network; and

(v) over powerlines. Advantageously, the appliance data can be sent over a national broadband network.

Preferably, the appliance data includes energy usage information.

Advantageously:

1. Renewable energy can be allocated for an appliance at the consumer's premises or being managed by the consumer. Thus, a consumer can choose to use renewable energy for a particular appliance without installing a separate renewable energy system.

2.A consumer can obtain accurate usage information in relation to the combination of conventional and renewable energy which may be being supplied to them.

3. Different sources of energy can be identified, billed and treated in different ways. For example, a consumer can be charged a tariff which can be calculated based on either or both of: (A) the appliance which is operated, (B) the energy source they select and/or (C) the number of appliances in a certain class of appliance being used.

Preferably, the appliance data includes an appliance identifier for each of the one or more appliances. Preferably, the processing unit is adapted to access authorisation data and to process the one or more appliance identifiers to compute, as a function of at least the authorisation data, whether the one or more appliances should receive electricity.

Preferably, the or each appliance identifier comprises appliance class information and wherein the processing unit is further adapted to compute, as a function of at least the appliance class information, whether the one or more appliances should receive electricity.

Preferably, the processing unit is further adapted to compute whether the one or more appliances should receive electricity based at least on the authorisation data and on the number of other appliances of the same appliance class receiving electricity via the electricity output at that time. Preferably, the processing unit is further adapted to receive authorisation data updates from the power utility.

Preferably, the electricity management device further comprises a wireless communications unit and wherein the authorisation data updates are received wirelessly via the wireless communications unit.

Advantageously, energy usage policies can be readily updated.

Preferably, the electricity management device further comprises a user interface operatively connected to the processing unit, the user interface being adapted to show the energy usage information and to allow a user to select a source or combination of sources of electricity for the or each appliance, the electricity management device being adapted to send corresponding energy data to the utility. Advantageously, environmentally aware consumers can choose to power all or certain appliances from a renewable energy source.

Preferably, the electricity output is adapted for connection to an electricity meter.

Preferably, the energy usage information corresponds to one or more energy usage information types from the following group of energy usage information types:

(i) appliance identifier;

(ii) appliance electricity consumption;

(iii) time and date of appliance electricity usage; and

(iv) duration of appliance electricity usage. Preferably, the electricity management device is adapted to store one or more energy usage information types from the following group of energy usage information types:

(i) appliance identifier; (ii) appliance electricity consumption; (iii) time and date of appliance electricity usage; and (iv) duration of appliance electricity usage.

(i) a smart card; and

(ii) a blue tooth enabled phone. Preferably, the appliance data includes identification data corresponding to one or more Identity Storage Means of the one or more appliances.

Preferably, the one or more Identity Storage Means each comprise a Subscriber Identity Module.

Preferably, the one or more Identity Storage Means each comprise a means within one of the one or more appliances for storing an encrypted identifier.

Preferably, the electricity management device further comprises one or more Identity Storage Means holding identification data corresponding to the one or more appliances, the signal receiver being adapted to receive the identification data from the Identity Storage Means.

Preferably, the one or more Identity Storage Means each comprise a Subscriber Identity Module. Preferably, the one or more Identity Storage Means each comprise a means for storing an encrypted identifier.

Advantageously, the Subscriber Identity Modules (e.g. a 'SIM' card) holds identification data for the one or more appliances allowing them to be identified. Preferably, the electricity management device takes the form of a power board for the one or more appliances.

Advantageously, a power board and the electricity management device are provided in a single unit.

Preferably, the identification data is an appliance identifier held by a corresponding Subscriber Identity Module and the one or more appliances is a single appliance and the electricity management device takes the form of a power plug for the single appliance.

Advantageously, the electricity management device can be easily retrofitted to existing appliances by replacing the original plug of the appliance with the power plug described above or attaching an extension cable including the electricity management device to the original plug of the appliance.

Preferably, the electricity management device further comprises: (i) a controller comprising the processing unit;

(ii) a data logger operatively connected to the controller and adapted to record some or all of the appliance data over time; and (iii) a signal communications interface comprising the signal receiver and a signal transmitter for sending the appliance data to the power utility.

Advantageously, the appliance data can be recorded for evaluative purposes by the consumer, the power utility or a third party. For example, the data could include information about energy usage. Preferably, the electricity management device further comprises a smart power plug having plug memory storing the appliance identifier and being adapted to communicate the appliance identifier by a data communications protocol over power lines.

Preferably, the electricity management device further comprises a Subscriber Identity Module storing the appliance identifier. According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, a system for authorising electrical appliances to utilise electricity from a power utility is provided, comprising:

- one or more electrical appliances as described above; and - an electricity management device as described above, the electricity output of the electricity management device being electrically connected to the electricity input of the one or more electrical appliances via an electricity meter which records the electricity usage of the one or more electrical appliances, - the system being such that when the one or more electrical appliances are turned on, the signal generator of the or each electrical appliance sends an appliance identification and power request signal to the signal receiver of the electricity management device, the signal receiver forwards the or each appliance identification and power request signal to the processing unit of the electricity management device which is adapted to recognise the or each appliance identification and power request signal and to compute whether or not authorised electricity should be provided to the one or more electrical appliances.

Preferably, the electricity management device is adapted to not supply authorised electricity to an appliance requiring a smart power plug to receive a supply of electricity, until a plug identifier of the smart power plug is recognised by the processing unit. Preferably, the electricity management device is further adapted to generate an alert signal if an appliance that must be connected to a building grid using a smart power plug is identified as being connected to the building grid without a smart power plug and to forward the alert signal to the power utility by a data communications protocol over power lines or wirelessly.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, a method for sending appliance data to a third party is provided, comprising:

(i) sending appliance data to a power utility by a data communications protocol; and (ii) sending the appliance data received by the power utility to the third party.

Advantageously, this data can be used by the third party to monitor energy usage, assess the status of the appliance, organise appliance maintenance or for another use. The third party may be an appliance manufacturer, government department or any other organisation. Furthermore, the power utility can bill the energy consumer, the third party or both for use of specific appliances or all appliances.

Preferably, the method further comprises the following step before step (i): - receiving appliance data at an electricity management device; Preferably, the appliance information is sent to the power utility by one of the following means:

(i) a fiber distributed data interface network; (ii) a GPRS network; (iii) a 3G network; (iv) a 4G network; and (v) over powerlines. Preferably, the appliance data includes data supplied by a Subscriber Identity Module of the appliance.

Other aspects of the invention are also disclosed.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Notwithstanding any other forms which may fall within the scope of the present invention, a preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of an electricity management device in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention connected to an appliance, building cabling and a power utility; Fig. 2 shows a schematic diagram of a system for authorising electrical appliances to utilise electricity provided by a power utility; and

Fig. 3 shows a schematic diagram of the system for authorising electrical appliances to utilise electricity provided by a power utility of Fig. 2.

Detailed Description of Specific Embodiments

First Group of Embodiments

Referring to Figs. 1 to 3, a system 10 is shown that enables the selective delivery of renewable power to specific electrical devices or appliances 12 using an existing power delivery infrastructure 110. The system 10 provides individual billing of electrical devices or appliances 12. Referring again to Fig. 1 , an electricity management device 15 (also referred to as "CleanPoint Appliance Manager" or "CAM") is provided and comprises a first electricity input 20 adapted to receive electricity from a mains power utility 115 and a second electricity input 25 adapted to receive electricity from a renewable power utility 120. The electricity management device 15 also comprises an electricity output 30 adapted to output electricity received by the electricity inputs 20, 25.

The electricity management device 15 further comprises a signal receiver 35 adapted to receive an appliance identification signal corresponding to an appliance 12 via the electricity output 30.

The electricity management device 15 further comprises a processing unit 40 and a user interface 45. The processing unit 40 comprises a processor, memory, a signal generator 42 and a communications port.

The processing unit 40 and the user interface 45 are adapted to allow a user to select from which of the two electricity inputs 20, 25, electricity will be supplied to the electricity output

30, to then be delivered to the appliance 12. The processing unit 40 is also adapted to process the appliance identification signal to compute whether electricity should be allowed to flow to the appliance, and if so, from which of the electricity inputs 20, 25 electricity should be received to be outputted to the electricity output 30 corresponding to the electrical appliance 12 sending the appliance identification signal. In this way, the processing unit 40 can determine whether any given appliance will receive electricity.

The processing unit 40 is further adapted to compute, based on the appliance identification signal, whether an electrical appliance 12 must only receive renewable electricity. In the depicted case, the processing unit 40 has determined that the appliance 12, which is an air conditioning unit, is only allowed to receive power from the second electricity input 25 (i.e. renewable energy).

The user interface 45 allows a user to readily select a desired electricity input 20 or 25. In this embodiment, the user interface 45 takes the form of a touch screen but may take any other suitable form in other embodiments. Both electricity inputs 20, 25 are connected to an electricity meter 125 and the signal generator 42 allows the processing unit 40 to output management signals to the electricity meter 125 by a data communications protocol over power lines or other suitable means. In an alternative embodiment, the signal generator 42 allows the processing unit 40 to output management signals directly to an electricity utility by a data communications protocol over power lines or other suitable means.

In this embodiment, the output management signals include the following types of management information for each appliance: (i) appliance identifier (also referred to as an "Energy Consumer Identification Number" or "ECIN");

(ii) appliance electricity consumption; (iii) time and date of appliance electricity usage; and (iv) duration of appliance electricity usage.

This management information can be used by the electricity utility for billing and research purposes.

The electricity management device 15 also comprises memory 50, a smart card receiving module 55 and a Bluetooth communications module 60 to enable the management information to be stored locally and readily accessed by an external device. The Bluetooth communications module 60 allows payment by phone. This means that the electricity management device 15 can be incorporated into street-side & parking bay metering points for electric cars, mobility scooters and electric wheelchairs, for example.

The electricity management device 15, smart card receiving module 55 and Bluetooth communications module 60 are JAVA (or other appropriate middleware) enabled supporting ease of communications with utility billing systems.

Referring to Figs 1 to 3 but particularly Fig 3, the electrical appliance 12 comprises an appliance electricity input, an appliance signal generator, an identifier memory, an appliance signal receiver and a proprietary smart power plug 90. The identifier memory stores the appliance identifier corresponding to the electrical appliance 12 and is integrated into the circuitry of the electrical appliance so that it cannot or cannot easily be tampered with (e.g. removed / switched off / circumvented). The appliance identifier comprises three types of information, namely:

(i) appliance manufacturer number; (ii) appliance model number;

(iii) appliance serial number; and (iv) appliance class.

In other embodiments, the appliance identifier may store a range of serial numbers for each appliance as opposed to an individual serial number. The appliance signal receiver is adapted to receive input signals through the appliance electricity input and to instruct the appliance signal generator to output the appliance identification signal corresponding to the appliance identifier stored in the identifier memory through the appliance electricity input by a data communications protocol over power lines or other suitable means.

In other embodiments, the appliance signal generator may be adapted to broadcast the appliance identification signal through the appliance electricity input either continuously or at predetermined intervals in time (e.g. once every minute). The electricity management device 15 is adapted to then detect and possibly remove the broadcast signal by filtering or otherwise. The appliance identification signal may be broadcast even if the appliance is drawing energy from another source (e.g. a local generator).

In other embodiments, the identifier memory is a station for receiving an external memory device (e.g. a USB storage device) or a separate device that can be attached to the appliance 12. If a separate device, the identifier memory may include a meter or display indicating any of the types of management information listed above.

The smart power plug 90 comprises plug memory storing a plug identifier, such that when the smart power plug 90 is electrically connected to the electricity management device 15 (e.g. through power lines), the processing unit 40 recognises the plug identifier.

In another embodiment, the plug memory also stores the appliance identifier and is adapted to communicate the appliance identifier to the electricity management device 15 by a data communications protocol over power lines. In this embodiment, the actual appliance 12 need not store the appliance identifier as well. This allows a system for providing authorisation to electrical appliances to receive electricity to be readily implemented on pre-existing appliances by the retrofitting of smart plugs to appliances.

The smart power plug 90 is configured differently from the standard power plug(s) of a given country and thus may not be inserted into a normal socket.

A government may mandate the use of appliance identifiers and/or smart power plugs 90. Whether mandated or not, a government may put in place a registration system whereby appliance identifiers and/or smart power plugs 90 can have their serial numbers / codes registered with the government.

Referring to Figs 2 & 3, the system 10 is adapted to provide authorisation to or withhold authorisation from the electrical appliance 12 to utilise electricity provided by a power utility, in this case a first and second power utility 1 15, 120.

The system 10 recognises that there will be two classes of electrical appliance that will require the use of renewable energy: 1. A mandated appliance is an appliance that the government has stipulated must be powered by renewable energy and which has an appliance identifier which can be recognised by the electricity management device 15 as requiring the appliance to be powered by renewable energy only. Mandated appliances must be connected to electricity using the smart power plug 90 which has a plug identifier recognisable by the electricity management device 15 as described above.

2. A discretionary appliance is an appliance that the consumer can choose to power by whatever source of energy they desire.

The system 10 comprises the electrical appliance 12 and the electricity management device 15. The electricity output 30 of the electricity management device 15 is electrically connected to the appliance electricity input by a power cable. The system 10 is such that when the electrical appliance 12 is turned on, the appliance signal generator sends an appliance identification and power request signal 95 to the signal receiver 35 of the electricity management device 15. The signal receiver 35 then forwards the appliance identification and power request signal 95 to the processing unit 40 of the electricity management device 15.

The processing unit 40 is adapted to recognise the appliance identification and power request signal 95 and to compute whether or not the electricity management device 15 is to provide power to the electrical appliance 12. In this way, the processing unit 40 can authorise or withhold an authorisation signal for the electrical appliance 12 to operate. The authorisation signal includes time and date information and is stored in the memory 50 from where it is sent to the appliance and to the first and second power utility 1 15, 120 via the first and second electricity input 20, 25.

The processing unit 40 of the electricity management device 15 is programmed to compute, based on the appliance identifier whether the corresponding appliance 12 is such that it must be connected to a building grid via the smart power plug 90 to receive power. The processing unit 40 is adapted with programmed logic and switches to not supply electricity to an appliance 12 requiring a smart power plug 90, until a plug identifier of the smart power plug 90 is recognised by the processing unit 40.

The electricity management device 15 is further adapted to generate an alert signal if an appliance 12 that must be connected to a building grid using a smart power plug 90 is identified as being connected to the building grid without a smart power plug 90 and to forward the alert signal to the first and second power utilities 115, 120 by a data communications protocol over power lines or other suitable means. If a consumer plugs a mandatory device into a standard plug and manages to circumvent the appliance identification requirements (e.g. by broadcasting a fake identifier through the power line) an alert signal may also be generated if excessive usage is detected by the electricity management device 15 or a power utility may be adapted to detect this and trigger an investigation. The system 10, electricity management device 15 and appliance 12 provide a number of advantages, including:

1. Renewable energy can be selectively delivered and billed to a consumer so a consumer can choose the source of energy delivered to them. For example, the consumer might choose between community-based solar, wind, tidal or even nuclear generated electricity. 2. Renewable energy can be selectively delivered to an appliance (e.g. appliance 12) at the consumer's premises or being managed by the consumer since each appliance can be individually recognised. Thus, a consumer can choose to use renewable energy for a particular appliance without installing a separate renewable energy system.

3. A consumer and the government can obtain accurate usage information in relation to the combination of conventional and renewable energy which may be being supplied to/by them.

4. Different sources of energy can be identified, billed and treated in different ways. For example, a consumer can be charged a tariff which can be calculated based on either or both of: (A) the appliance which is operated, and (B) the energy source they select. 5. Products or energy services can be marketed in a positive manner (e.g. on the basis of contribution to the environment, low tariffs or both).

6. A government can mandate the use of a certain type of energy (e.g. renewable energy) for certain appliances and the electricity management device can automatically determine whether an appliance is to receive conventional or renewable energy. 7. The management information can be used by a consumer, government or utility for such purposes as reducing energy costs or usage and for enforcing energy usage policies. It could also allow government to levy taxes or charges against users of certain appliances such as imposing an Energy Levy against Electric Vehicles in such a manner as to address the inequity in taxes raised by oil levies that apply to internal combustion powered vehicles.

8. With mobile mandatory electrical devices (e.g. an electric car), the device could be authorised to receive power at multiple locations on an electricity grid (e.g. at a home or at a petrol station) and have usage rated or charged to their account. Authorisation could be achieved by the provision of the car's appliance identifier through a smart power plug 90 which may also have its own identifier.

Second Group of Embodiments An alternative electricity management device is provided and has an electricity input adapted to receive electricity from a power utility, an electricity output connected to an electricity meter and adapted to output electricity received by the electricity input, a signal receiver adapted to receive three appliance identification signals corresponding to three appliances via the electricity output, a user interface and a processing unit adapted to send energy usage information for the three appliances to the power utility by a data communications protocol over power lines or wirelessly. It should be noted that any number of appliances (e.g. 1 , 2, 5, 20) may be connected to the electricity management device. In this case, the three appliances are a reverse-cycle air-conditioner, an electric convection heater and a washing machine. Advantageously:

2. A consumer can obtain accurate usage information in relation to the combination of conventional and renewable energy which may be being supplied to them.

3. Different sources of energy can be identified, billed and treated in different ways. For example, a consumer can be charged a tariff which can be calculated based on any or all of: (A) the appliances which are operated, (B) the energy source they select and/or (C) the number of appliances in a certain class of appliance being used. 4. Products or energy services can be marketed in a positive manner (e.g. on the basis of contribution to the environment, low tariffs or both).

5. No further electrical infrastructure is required between the electricity management device and the power utility.

The three appliance identification signals comprise appliance class information. The processing unit comprises authorisation data and is further adapted to process the three appliance identification signals to compute, based on the authorisation data and on the appliance class information, whether the three appliances should receive authorised electricity. More specifically, the processing unit is adapted to recognise the number of appliances of the same appliance class receiving authorised electricity at that time. In this example, the processing unit has detected that the reverse-cycle air-conditioner and the electric convection heater are both connected and since the air-conditioners and the heater both fall into the class of "temperature controlling devices", the processing unit only allows one of the air-conditioner and heater to be used at once.

It is apparent that energy usage policies can be created and enforced restricting the use of too many of a certain type of appliance. As in the above example, a government may choose to create a policy whereby each residential address is only allowed to use a single temperature controlling device. The processing unit is further adapted to receive authorisation data updates from the power utility by a data communications protocol over power lines. In other embodiments, the electricity management device further comprises a wireless communications unit and the authorisation data updates are received wirelessly via the wireless communications unit.

The electricity management device also comprises a user interface operatively connected to the processing unit, the user interface being adapted to show energy usage information and to allow a user to allocate a source or combination of sources of electricity for the three appliances. In this example, the user has chosen to use the air-conditioner rather than the heater and has further chosen to allocate renewable energy for the air-conditioner as the government provides a billing incentive for doing so. The user has chosen to allocate conventional energy to power their washing machine.

It is apparent that the electricity management device allows environmentally aware consumers to choose to power all or certain appliances from a renewable energy source.

The processing unit further comprises a signal generator and is adapted to output the energy usage information to the power utility via the signal generator. In this example, the energy usage information comprises the following for each connected appliance:

(i) appliance identifier;

(ii) appliance electricity consumption;

(iii) time and date of appliance electricity usage; and

(iv) duration of appliance electricity usage. The processing unit is also adapted to store the energy usage information in a database. The energy usage information could further comprise the type of energy that was used (e.g. solar, hydro or wind) to power various appliances and any other necessary information required for billing purposes. This information can also be displayed on the user interface to allow a user to monitor energy usage in real time.

The energy usage information may be communicated to the power utility at appropriate time intervals such that renewable energy policies and billing requirements can be fulfilled. As in some previous embodiments, the electricity management device also comprises communication means for communicating with a smart card, a blue tooth enabled phone and a modem.

Third Group of Embodiments A method of delivering renewable energy into a power grid is provided, comprising the following steps:

(i) receiving electricity usage information for electrical appliances by a data communications protocol over power lines, wirelessly or by fibre cable;

(ii) billing a customer for the electricity used by the electrical appliances; and (iii) distributing an amount of renewable electricity into the power grid corresponding to the electricity usage information.

This system allows renewable energy to be delivered to a power grid to offset electricity use by appliances. Thus, appliances can effectively be run on renewable energy. In one embodiment, a consumer can choose the source of energy allocated to their appliance(s) by a user interface forming part of the electricity management device. Thus, a consumer can choose to use renewable energy for particular appliances.

Advantageously, different sources of energy can be identified, billed and treated in different ways. For example, a consumer can be charged a tariff which can be calculated based on either or both of: (A) the appliances which are operated, (B) the energy source they select and/or (C) the number of appliances in a certain class of appliance being used.

It is envisaged that the use of this method will help promote the demand for alternative energy production.

Fourth Group of Embodiments In another embodiment, an electricity management device is provided, comprising an electricity input adapted to receive electricity from a power utility and an electricity output adapted for connection to an electricity meter to output electricity received by the electricity input to one or more appliances. The electricity management device also comprises a signal receiver and a signal transmitter, the signal transmitter being adapted to receive appliance data corresponding to the one or more appliances via the electricity output; and a processing unit operatively connected to the signal receiver and adapted to send the appliance data for the one or more appliances to the power utility via the signal transmitter.

In this embodiment, the appliance data is an appliance identifier and energy usage information for each appliance. The appliance identifier comprises appliance class information categorising the appliances into classes depending on the type of appliance (e.g. fridges, washing machines, televisions, computers). In this embodiment, the processing unit is adapted to send the appliance data to the power utility by a fiber distributed data interface network. One exemplary such network is the National Broadband Network currently proposed by the Australian Government. Alternative data transmission means include:

(i) a GPRS network; (ii) a 3G network;

(iii) a 4G network; and (iv) over powerlines.

The processing unit is also adapted to access authorisation data and to process the appliance data for the one or more appliances to compute, as a function of the authorisation data, the appliance identifiers (particularly the appliance class information) and the energy usage information whether the one or more appliances should receive electricity. The processing unit may also take into account the number of other appliances of the same appliance class receiving electricity via the electricity output at that time in determining whether the one or more appliances should receive electricity. The processing unit is further adapted to receive authorisation data updates from the power utility by a data communications protocol over power lines. In other embodiments, the electricity management device further comprises a wireless communications unit and the authorisation data updates are received wirelessly via the wireless communications unit. By either of these arrangements energy usage policies can be readily updated. The electricity management device also comprises a user interface operatively connected to the processing unit, the user interface being adapted to show energy usage information and to allow a user to allocate a source or combination of sources of electricity for the or each appliance. Thus, the electricity management device allows environmentally aware consumers to choose to power all or certain appliances from a renewable energy source.

In this example, the energy usage information comprises the following for each connected appliance: (i) appliance identifier;

(ii) appliance electricity consumption;

(iii) time and date of appliance electricity usage; and

(iv) duration of appliance electricity usage.

The processing unit comprises memory allowing it to store the energy usage information in a database. The energy usage information could further comprise the type of energy that was used (e.g. solar, hydro or wind) to power various appliances and any other necessary information required for billing purposes. This information can also be displayed on the user interface to allow a user to monitor energy usage in real time.

The energy usage information may be communicated to the power utility at appropriate time intervals such that renewable energy policies and billing requirements can be fulfilled.

As in some previous embodiments, the electricity management device also comprises communication means for communicating with a smart card, a blue tooth enabled phone and a modem.

In this embodiment, the one or more appliances each have a Subscriber Identity Module taking the form of a SIM card which stores the appliance identifier.

In another embodiment, the one or more appliances each have an Identity Storage Means for storing the appliance identifier in an encrypted form. The Identity Storage Means may be integrated into the main control circuit of each appliance.

In another embodiment, the electricity management device further comprises: (i) a controller comprising the processing unit;

(ii) a data logger operatively connected to the controller and adapted to record some or all of the appliance data over time; and

(iii) a signal communications interface comprising the signal receiver and a signal transmitter for sending the appliance data to the power utility. Advantageously, the appliance data can be recorded for evaluative or billing purposes by the consumer, the power utility or a third party. For example, the data could include information about energy usage. The logged data can be sent to the power utility at regular intervals in time.

In one variation, the electricity management device further comprises a smart power plug having plug memory storing the appliance identifier and being adapted to communicate the appliance identifier by a data communications protocol over power lines.

In another variation, the electricity management device may further comprise a Subscriber Identity Module storing the appliance identifier and the energy usage information. In this embodiment, the signal receiver is adapted to receive the appliance identifiers from the Subscriber Identity Modules. The Subscriber Identity Module may take the form of a SIM card or other Identity Storage Means.

Some advantages of the electricity management devices of these embodiments include:

1. Data in relation to the appliances being used (e.g. electricity usage) can be supplied to the power utility. The power utility may then forward this information (with permission) to a third party. 2. The appliance data can be sent over a national broadband network.

3. Renewable energy can be allocated for an appliance at the consumer's premises or being managed by the consumer. Thus, a consumer can choose to use renewable energy for a particular appliance without installing a separate renewable energy system.

4. A consumer can obtain accurate usage information in relation to the combination of conventional and renewable energy which may be being supplied to them.

5. Different sources of energy can be identified, billed and treated in different ways. For example, a consumer can be charged a tariff which can be calculated based on either or both of: (A) the appliance which is operated, (B) the energy source they select and/or (C) the number of appliances in a certain class of appliance being used. 6. Advantageously, energy usage policies can be created and enforced restricting the use of too many of a certain class of appliance. For example, the government may choose to create a policy whereby each residential address is restricted to a maximum number of simultaneously operating air-conditioning units so as to moderate excessive demands to the power grid on hot days. In an alternative embodiment, the electricity management device takes the form of a power board for the one or more appliances. Advantageously, a power board and the electricity management device can be provided in a single unit. In another alternative embodiment, the electricity management device has a Subscriber Identity Module holding the appliance identifier for a single appliance only and takes the form of a power plug for the appliance. Advantageously, the electricity management device can be easily retrofitted to existing appliances by replacing the original plug of the appliance with the power plug described above or attaching an extension including the electricity management device to the original plug of the appliance.

Fifth Group of Embodiments

In another embodiment (not shown), a system is provided for authorising electrical appliances to utilise electricity from a power utility. The system comprises electrical appliances as described in the First Group of Embodiments and an electricity management device as described above.

The electricity output of the electricity management device is electrically connected to the electricity inputs of the electrical appliances via an electricity meter and records the electricity usage of the electrical appliances and sends this information to the electrical device manager by a data communications protocol over power lines. In other embodiments, this information is sent wirelessly.

The system is such that when the electrical appliances are turned on, the signal generators of the electrical appliances send an appliance identification and power request signal to the signal receiver of the electricity management device, the signal receiver forwards the appliance identification and power request signals to the processing unit of the electricity management device which is adapted to recognise the appliance identification and power request signals and to compute whether or not authorised electricity should be provided to the electrical appliances. The electricity management device is also adapted to not supply authorised electricity to an appliance requiring a smart power plug to receive a supply of electricity, until a plug identifier of the smart power plug is recognised by the processing unit.

The electricity management device is further adapted to generate an alert signal if an appliance that must be connected to a building grid using a smart power plug is identified as being connected to the building grid without a smart power plug and to forward the alert signal to a power utility by a data communications protocol over power lines. Thus, information relating to the delinquent use of non-renewable energy by devices that must use renewable energy is transmitted over power lines using an appropriate protocol. Alert signals could also be forwarded wirelessly. In the event that it is legislated that an appliance must utilise renewable energy, appliance identifiers of appliances not using renewable energy would be broadcast to the electricity utility, enabling identification of the delinquent use to be carried out.

Advantageously: 1. This system allows renewable energy to be delivered to a power grid to offset electricity use by an appliance owned by consumer. Thus, an appliance can effectively be run on renewable energy.

2. A consumer can choose the source(s) of energy allocated to particular appliances by a user interface forming part of the electricity management device. Thus, a consumer can choose to use renewable energy for particular appliances without installing a separate renewable energy system.

3. A government can mandate the use of renewable energy for certain appliances and incentivise correct usage and/or penalise incorrect usage.

4. Different sources of energy can be identified, billed and treated in different ways. For example, a consumer can be charged a tariff which can be calculated based on either or both of: (A) the appliances which are operated, (B) the energy source they select and/or (C) the number of appliances in a certain class of appliance being used.

5. The system can be installed without infrastructural changes to domestic, commercial or public cabling / wiring with the exception of the integration of electricity management devices.

6. The electricity management device can order a particular amount of renewable energy from the electricity utility to cover that used by the electrical appliances. This means that the carbon cost associated with the electrical appliances can be reduced or eliminated altogether, depending on the source of electricity.

Sixth Group of Embodiments

A method for sending appliance data to a third party is provided, comprising the following steps:

(i) receiving appliance data at an electricity management device as described above; (ii) sending the appliance data received by the electricity management device to a power utility by a data communications protocol; and

(iii) sending the appliance data received by the power utility to the third party. Advantageously, this data can be used by the third party to monitor energy usage, assess the status of the appliance, organise appliance maintenance or for another use. The third party may be an appliance manufacturer, government department or any other organisation or machine (e.g. a computer). Furthermore, the power utility can bill the energy consumer, the third party or both for use of specific appliances or all appliances.

The appliance information can be sent to the power utility by any one of the following means: (i) a fiber distributed data interface network; (ii) a GPRS network; (iii) a 3G network; (iv) a 4G network; and (v) over powerlines.

In one embodiment, the appliance data includes data supplied by a Subscriber Identity Module of or corresponding to the appliance.

In another embodiment, the appliance data includes data supplied by an Identification Storage Means of the appliance. The Identification Storage Means may be integrated into the main control circuit of each appliance.

While the invention has been described with reference to a number of preferred embodiments it should be appreciated that the invention can be embodied in many other forms. For example, in other embodiments, the electricity management device 15 may also have an identifier which may be sent to a utility when requested or broadcast on a regular or continuous basis.

In other embodiments, it may be optional for some appliances to have an appliance identifier. In this case, the broadcast of the appliance identifier may be able to be deactivated by a user. Examples of data communication protocols that may be used in any of the embodiments described above include Ethernet, X10 and X25.

Interpretation

In this specification, the words "renewable energy" also refer to sustainable energy and green energy. In this specification, the word "appliance" refers to any type of electrical device, including a power adaptor that supports multiple electrical devices. In this specification, the words "electricity", "power" and "energy" are used interchangeably.

In this specification, the words "power grid" refers to a public power grid unless the context deems otherwise.

Wireless: The invention may be embodied using devices conforming to other network standards and for other applications, including, for example other WLAN standards and other wireless standards. Applications that can be accommodated include IEEE 802.11 wireless LANs, IEEE 802.16, 2G, 3G, other wireless technologies and wireless Ethernet.

In the context of this document, the term "wireless" and its derivatives may be used to describe circuits, devices, systems, methods, techniques, communications channels, etc., that may communicate data through the use of modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. The term does not imply that the associated devices do not contain any wires, although in some embodiments they might not. In the context of this document, the term "wired" and its derivatives may be used to describe circuits, devices, systems, methods, techniques, communications channels, etc., that may communicate data through the use of modulated electromagnetic radiation through a solid medium. The term does not imply that the associated devices are coupled by electrically conductive wires.

Processes:

Unless specifically stated otherwise, as apparent from the following discussions, it is appreciated that throughout the specification discussions utilizing terms such as "processing", "computing", "calculating", "determining", "analysing" or the like, refer to the action and/or processes of a computer or computing system, or similar electronic computing device, that manipulate and/or transform data represented as physical, such as electronic, quantities into other data similarly represented as physical quantities. Processor:

In a similar manner, the term "processor" may refer to any device or portion of a device that processes electronic data, e.g., from registers and/or memory to transform that electronic data into other electronic data that, e.g., may be stored in registers and/or memory. A "computer" or a "computing device" or a "computing machine" or a "computing platform" may include one or more processors.

The methodologies described herein are, in one embodiment, performable by one or more processors that accept computer-readable (also called machine-readable) code containing a set of instructions that when executed by one or more of the processors carry out at least one of the methods described herein. Any processor capable of executing a set of instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be taken are included. Thus, one example is a typical processing system that includes one or more processors. The processing system further may include a memory subsystem including main RAM and/or a static RAM, and/or ROM.

Computer-Readable Medium:

Furthermore, a computer-readable carrier medium may form, or be included in a computer program product. A computer program product can be stored on a computer usable carrier medium, the computer program product comprising a computer readable program means for causing a processor to perform a method as described herein.

Networked or Multiple Processors:

In alternative embodiments, the one or more processors operate as a standalone device or may be connected, e.g., networked to other processor(s), in a networked deployment, the one or more processors may operate in the capacity of a server or a client machine in server- client network environment, or as a peer machine in a peer-to-peer or distributed network environment. The one or more processors may form a web appliance, a network router, switch or bridge, or any machine capable of executing a set of instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine.

Note that while some diagram(s) only show(s) a single processor and a single memory that carries the computer-readable code, those in the art will understand that many of the components described above are included, but not explicitly shown or described in order not to obscure the inventive aspect. For example, while only a single machine is illustrated, the term "machine" shall also be taken to include any collection of machines that individually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.

Additional Embodiments:

Thus, one embodiment of each of the methods described herein is in the form of a computer- readable carrier medium carrying a set of instructions, e.g., a computer program that are for execution on one or more processors. Thus, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, embodiments of the present invention may be embodied as a method, an apparatus such as a special purpose apparatus, an apparatus such as a data processing system, or a computer-readable carrier medium. The computer-readable carrier medium carries computer readable code including a set of instructions that when executed on one or more processors cause a processor or processors to implement a method. Accordingly, aspects of the present invention may take the form of a method, an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, the present invention may take the form of carrier medium (e.g., a computer program product on a computer-readable storage medium) carrying computer- readable program code embodied in the medium.

Carrier Medium:

The software may further be transmitted or received over a network via a network interface device. While the carrier medium is shown in an example embodiment to be a single medium, the term "carrier medium" should be taken to include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers) that store the one or more sets of instructions. The term "carrier medium" shall also be taken to include any medium that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying a set of instructions for execution by one or more of the processors and that cause the one or more processors to perform any one or more of the methodologies of the present invention. A carrier medium may take many forms, including but not limited to, non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media.

Implementation:

It will be understood that the steps of methods discussed are performed in one embodiment by an appropriate processor (or processors) of a processing (i.e., computer) system executing instructions (computer-readable code) stored in storage. It will also be understood that the invention is not limited to any particular implementation or programming technique and that the invention may be implemented using any appropriate techniques for implementing the functionality described herein. The invention is not limited to any particular programming language or operating system. Means For Carrying out a Method or Function

Furthermore, some of the embodiments are described herein as a method or combination of elements of a method that can be implemented by a processor of a processor device, computer system, or by other means of carrying out the function. Thus, a processor with the necessary instructions for carrying out such a method or element of a method forms a means for carrying out the method or element of a method. Furthermore, an element described herein of an apparatus embodiment is an example of a means for carrying out the function performed by the element for the purpose of carrying out the invention.

Embodiments: Reference throughout this specification to "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, appearances of the phrases "in one embodiment" or "in an embodiment" in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment, but may. Furthermore, the particular features, structures or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner, as would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art from this disclosure, in one or more embodiments.

Similarly it should be appreciated that in the above description of example embodiments of the invention, various features of the invention are sometimes grouped together in a single embodiment, figure, or description thereof for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure and aiding in the understanding of one or more of the various inventive aspects. This method of disclosure, however, is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed invention requires more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive aspects lie in less than all features of a single foregoing disclosed embodiment. Thus, the claims following the Detailed Description of Specific Embodiments are hereby expressly incorporated into this Detailed Description of Specific Embodiments, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment of this invention. Furthermore, while some embodiments described herein include some but not other features included in other embodiments, combinations of features of different embodiments are meant to be within the scope of the invention, and form different embodiments, as would be understood by those in the art. For example, in the following claims, any of the claimed embodiments can be used in any combination. Specific Details

In the description provided herein, numerous specific details are set forth. However, it is understood that embodiments of the invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known methods, structures and techniques have not been shown in detail in order not to obscure an understanding of this description. Terminology

In describing the preferred embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings, specific terminology will be resorted to for the sake of clarity. However, the invention is not intended to be limited to the specific terms so selected, and it is to be understood that each specific term includes all technical equivalents which operate in a similar manner to accomplish a similar technical purpose. Terms such as "forward", "rearward", "radially", "peripherally", "upwardly", "downwardly", and the like are used as words of convenience to provide reference points and are not to be construed as limiting terms.

Different Instances of Objects As used herein, unless otherwise specified the use of the ordinal adjectives "first", "second", "third", etc., to describe a common object, merely indicate that different instances of like objects are being referred to, and are not intended to imply that the objects so described must be in a given sequence, either temporally, spatially, in ranking, or in any other manner.

In describing the preferred embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings, specific terminology will be resorted to for the sake of clarity. However, the invention is not intended to be limited to the specific terms so selected, and it is to be understood that each specific term includes all technical equivalents which operate in a similar manner to accomplish a similar technical purpose.

Industrial Applicability

It is apparent from the above, that the arrangements described are applicable to a variety of industries, including the power, automotive and electrical goods industries.

In the claims which follow and in the preceding description of the invention, except where the context requires otherwise due to express language or necessary implication, the word "comprise" or variations such as "comprises" or "comprising" are used in an inclusive sense, i.e. to specify the presence of the stated features but not to preclude the presence or addition of further features in various embodiments of the invention.

Claims

ClaimsThe claims defining the invention are as follows:

1. An electricity management device, comprising: two or more electricity inputs adapted to receive electricity from two or more respective power utilities; one or more electricity outputs adapted to output electricity received by the electricity inputs; a signal receiver adapted to receive one or more appliance identification signals corresponding to one or more appliances via the one or more electricity outputs; and a processing unit adapted to allow a user to select from which of the two or more electricity inputs, electricity will be supplied to the or one of the electricity outputs to then be delivered to the one or more appliances.

2. An electricity management device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the processing unit is further adapted to process the one or more appliance identification signals to compute whether electricity should be allowed to flow from one of the electricity inputs to the or one of the electricity outputs and thus whether the one or more appliances will receive power.

3. An electricity management device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the processing unit is further adapted to compute, based on the one or more appliance identification signals, from which of the two or more electricity inputs electricity is to be received, to be outputted to the electricity output corresponding to the one or more electrical appliances sending the one or more appliance identification signals, in use.

4. An electricity management device as claimed in claim 3, wherein the processing unit is further adapted to compute, based on the one or more appliance identification signals, whether the one or more electrical appliances must only receive renewable electricity.

5. An electricity management device as claimed in claim 3 or 4, further comprising a user interface connected to the processing unit and wherein the processing unit is further adapted to allow a user to select a desired electricity input from the two or more electricity inputs using the user interface.

6. An electricity management device as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein at least one of the two or more electricity inputs is connected to an electricity meter.

7. An electricity management device as claimed in claim 6, wherein the processing unit further comprises a signal generator and is adapted to output management signals to the electricity meter via the signal generator.

8. An electricity management device as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein at least one of the two or more electricity inputs is connected to an electricity utility.

9. An electricity management device as claimed in claim 8, wherein the processing unit further comprises a signal generator and is adapted to output management signals to the electricity utility via the signal generator.

10. An electricity management device as claimed in claim 7 or 9, wherein the output management signals correspond to one or more management information types from the following group of management information types:

11. An electricity management device as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, adapted to store one or more management information types from the following group of management information types:

(i) appliance identifier; (ii) appliance electricity consumption;

12. An electricity management device as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, further comprising communication means for communicating with one or more of the following external devices:

(i) a smart card;

(ii) a blue tooth enabled phone; and

(iii) a modem.

13. An electrical appliance comprising: an electricity input, a signal generator, and an identifier memory for storing an appliance identifier corresponding to the electrical appliance, the signal generator being adapted to output an appliance identification signal corresponding to the appliance identifier stored in the identifier memory through the electricity input.

14. An electrical appliance as claimed in claim 13, further comprising a signal receiver adapted to receive input signals through the electricity input and to instruct the signal generator to output the appliance identification signal through the electricity input.

15. An electrical appliance as claimed in claim 13 or 14, wherein the signal generator is adapted to broadcast the appliance identification signal through the electricity input either continuously or at predetermined intervals in time.

16. An electrical appliance as claimed in any one of claims 13 to 15, wherein the identifier memory is integrated into the circuitry of the electrical appliance such that the identifier memory cannot be readily tampered with.

17. An electrical appliance as claimed in any one of claims 13 to 16, wherein the identifier memory is a station for receiving an external memory device.

18. An electrical appliance as claimed in any one of claims 13 to 17, wherein the appliance identifier comprises one or more appliance information types from the following group of appliance information types: (i) manufacturer number;

(ii) model number;

(iii) serial number or range of serial numbers; and (iv) appliance class.

19. An electrical appliance as claimed in any one of claims 13 to 18, further comprising a smart power plug having plug memory storing a plug identifier, and being adapted to communicate the plug identifier by a data communications protocol over power lines.

20. A system for authorising electrical appliances to utilise electricity provided by a power utility, comprising: one or more electrical appliances as claimed in any one of claims 13 to 19; and an electricity management device as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 12, the at least one electricity output of the electricity management device being electrically connected to the electricity input of the one or more electrical appliances by electrical connection means, the system being such that when the one or more electrical appliances are turned on, the signal generator of the or each electrical appliance sends an appliance identification and power request signal to the signal receiver of the electricity management device, the signal receiver forwards the appliance identification and power request signal to the processing unit of the electricity management device which is adapted to recognise the appliance identification and power request signal and compute whether or not the electricity management device is to provide power to the or each electrical appliance.

21. A system as claimed in claim 20, wherein the processing unit is further adapted such that upon receiving the or each appliance identification and power request signal, it can authorise or withhold an authorisation signal for the or each electrical appliance to operate.

22. A system as claimed in claim 21 , wherein the authorisation signal includes time and date information.

23. A system as claimed in any one of claims 20 to 22, wherein the authorisation signal is also stored in memory or sent to at least one of the one or more power utilities.

24. A system as claimed in any one of claims 20 to 23, wherein the electricity management device is adapted to not supply electricity to any appliance requiring a smart power plug to receive a supply of electricity, until a plug identifier of the smart power plug is recognised by the processing unit.

25. A system as claimed in claim 24, wherein the processing unit is further adapted to compute based on an appliance identifier whether the corresponding appliance is such that it must be connected to a building grid via the smart power plug.

26. A system as claimed in claim 25, wherein the electricity management device is further adapted to generate an alert signal if an appliance that must be connected to a building grid using a smart power plug is identified as being connected to the building grid without a smart power plug.

27. A system as claimed in claim 26, wherein the electricity management device is adapted to forward the alert signal to at least one of the one or more power utilities.

28. A system substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

29. An electricity management device, comprising: an electricity input adapted to receive electricity from a power utility; an electricity output adapted to output electricity received by the electricity input to one or more appliances; a signal receiver adapted to receive appliance data corresponding to the one or more appliances; and a processing unit operatively connected to the signal receiver and adapted to send the appliance data for the one or more appliances to the power utility.

30. An electricity management device as claimed in claim 29, wherein the appliance data is received by the signal receiver via the electricity output.

31. An electricity management device as claimed in claim 29, wherein the processing unit is adapted to send the appliance data to the power utility by one of the following means:

(i) a fiber distributed data interface network; (ii) a GPRS network; (iii) a 3G network; (iv) a 4G network; and

(v) over powerlines.

32. An electricity management device as claimed in claim 29, wherein the appliance data includes energy usage information.

33. An electricity management device as claimed in claim 29, wherein the appliance data includes an appliance identifier for each of the one or more appliances.

34. An electricity management device as claimed in claim 33, wherein the processing unit is adapted to access authorisation data and to process the one or more appliance identifiers to compute, as a function of at least the authorisation data, whether the one or more appliances should receive electricity.

35. An electricity management device as claimed in claim 33, wherein the or each appliance identifier comprises appliance class information and wherein the processing unit is further adapted to compute, as a function of at least the appliance class information, whether the one or more appliances should receive electricity.

36. An electricity management device as claimed in claim 35, wherein the processing unit is further adapted to compute whether the one or more appliances should receive electricity based at least on the authorisation data and on the number of other appliances of the same appliance class receiving electricity via the electricity output at that time.

37. An electricity management device as claimed in claim 34, wherein the processing unit is further adapted to receive authorisation data updates from the power utility.

38. An electricity management device as claimed in claim 37, wherein the authorisation data updates are received by a data communications protocol over power lines.

39. An electricity management device as claimed in claim 37, further comprising a wireless communications unit and wherein the authorisation data updates are received wirelessly via the wireless communications unit.

40. An electricity management device as claimed in claim 32, further comprising a user interface operatively connected to the processing unit, the user interface being adapted to show the energy usage information and to allow a user to select a source or combination of sources of electricity for the or each appliance, the electricity management device being adapted to send corresponding energy data to the utility.

41. An electricity management device as claimed in claim 29, wherein the electricity output is adapted for connection to an electricity meter.

42. An electricity management device as claimed in claim 32, wherein the energy usage information corresponds to one or more energy usage information types from the following group of energy usage information types: (i) appliance identifier;

(ii) appliance electricity consumption;

(iii) time and date of appliance electricity usage; and

(iv) duration of appliance electricity usage.

43. An electricity management device as claimed in claim 42, wherein the electricity management device is adapted to store one or more energy usage information types from the following group of energy usage information types:

44. An electricity management device as claimed in any one of claims 29 to 43, further comprising communication means for communicating with one or more of the following external devices:

(i) a smart card; and (ii) a blue tooth enabled phone.

45. An electricity management device as claimed in claim 29, wherein the appliance data includes identification data corresponding to one or more Identity Storage Means of the one or more appliances.

46. An electricity management device as claimed in claim 45, wherein the one or more Identity Storage Means each comprise a Subscriber Identity Module.

47. An electricity management device as claimed in claim 45, wherein the one or more Identity Storage Means each comprise a means within one of the one or more appliances for storing an encrypted identifier.

48. An electricity management device as claimed in claim 29, further comprising one or more Identity Storage Means holding identification data corresponding to the one or more appliances, the signal receiver being adapted to receive the identification data from the Identity Storage Means.

49. An electricity management device as claimed in claim 48, wherein the one or more Identity Storage Means each comprise a Subscriber Identity Module.

50. An electricity management device as claimed in claim 48, wherein the one or more Identity Storage Means each comprise a means for storing an encrypted identifier.

51. An electricity management device as claimed in claim 48, taking the form of a power board for the one or more appliances.

52. An electricity management device as claimed in claim 48, wherein the identification data is an appliance identifier held by a corresponding Subscriber Identity Module and the one or more appliances is a single appliance and the electricity management device takes the form of a power plug for the single appliance.

53. An electricity management device as claimed in claim 29, further comprising: (i) a controller comprising the processing unit; (ii) a data logger operatively connected to the controller and adapted to record some or all of the appliance data over time; and (iii) a signal communications interface comprising the signal receiver and a signal transmitter for sending the appliance data to the power utility.

54. An electrical appliance as claimed in any one of claims 13 to 19, further comprising a smart power plug having plug memory storing the appliance identifier and being adapted to communicate the appliance identifier by a data communications protocol over power lines.

55. An electrical appliance as claimed in claim 13, further comprising a Subscriber Identity Module storing the appliance identifier.

56. A system for authorising electrical appliances to utilise electricity from a power utility, comprising: one or more electrical appliances as claimed in any one of claims 13 to 19 or 54; and an electricity management device as claimed in any one of claims 29 to 46, the electricity output of the electricity management device being electrically connected to the electricity input of the one or more electrical appliances via an electricity meter which records the electricity usage of the one or more electrical appliances, the system being such that when the one or more electrical appliances are turned on, the signal generator of the or each electrical appliance sends an appliance identification and power request signal to the signal receiver of the electricity management device, the signal receiver forwards the or each appliance identification and power request signal to the processing unit of the electricity management device which is adapted to recognise the or each appliance identification and power request signal and to compute whether or not authorised electricity should be provided to the one or more electrical appliances.

57. A system as claimed in claim 56, wherein the electricity management device is adapted to not supply authorised electricity to an appliance requiring a smart power plug to receive a supply of electricity, until a plug identifier of the smart power plug is recognised by the processing unit.

58. A system as claimed in claim 56, wherein the electricity management device is further adapted to generate an alert signal if an appliance that must be connected to a building grid using a smart power plug is identified as being connected to the building grid without a smart power plug and to forward the alert signal to the power utility by a data communications protocol over power lines or wirelessly.

59. A method of delivering renewable energy into a power grid, comprising the following steps: receiving electricity usage information for one or more electrical appliances by a data communications protocol over power lines, wirelessly or by fibre cable; billing a customer for the electricity used by the one or more electrical appliances; and distributing an amount of renewable electricity into the power grid corresponding to the electricity usage information.

60. A method for sending appliance data to a third party, comprising:

61. A method as claimed in claim 60, further comprising the following step before step (i): - receiving appliance data at an electricity management device;

62. A method as claimed in claim 61 , wherein the appliance information is sent to the power utility by one of the following means:

(i) a fiber distributed data interface network; (ii) a GPRS network;

(iii) a 3G network; (iv) a 4G network; and (v) over powerlines.

63. A method as claimed in claim 60, wherein the appliance data includes data supplied by a Subscriber Identity Module of the appliance.

64. A method as claimed in claim 60, wherein the appliance data includes data supplied by an Identification Storage Means of the appliance.