Panasonic Corporation announced its plans to begin the full-scale development of its Smart Home Energy Management System (SMARTHEMS™) business on October 21, 2012 in Japan. In addition to the energy creation-storage linked system for the home released in March 2012, it will also launch AiSEG™, which is a core component of SMARTHEMS™, connecting the electrical equipment and home appliances in the system.
Against the backdrop of increasing awareness of environmental issues as well as concerns over the electricity supply since the Great East Japan Earthquake, energy saving measures for the home have become a pressing need in Japan. It is expected that the HEMS market will grow rapidly due to subsidies from the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), set at a maximum of JP¥100,000, and smart house development expansion.
Being equipped with ECHONET Lite, SMARTHEMS™ not only visualizes the consumption of energy in the household, but can also control different types of home electrical equipment through the core component, AiSEG™. From this autumn, Panasonic will gradually increase its lineup of products that can be linked through HEMS, including air conditioners, IH cooking equipment, and EcoCute heat pump hot water supply systems. The power consumption measuring unit that can be linked to existing distribution panels and AiSEG™ are eligible for the subsidies for the "Introduction of Energy Management System (FY 2011Third Supplementary Budget)".
In order for SMARTHEMS™ to respond to future developments, such as changes in the electricity rating system, and enable the long term use of the system, firmware updates will be provided for the system via cloud computing service. Going forward, the company will expand its functions to other business fields, not limited to HEMS.
Panasonic will continue to improve and expand its home energy management system, SMARTHEMS™, to create, store, use energy efficiently and manage it smartly by linking home electrical equipment and home appliances. Panasonic’s SMARTHEMS™ will continue to flexibly evolve in line with advances in lifestyle in the future to come.
