universal link bids to solve home energy format wars - home appliances suppliers

Simple USB interface
The fashion interface released today may break the dream of smart energy meters, which will make the grid more efficient and usher in a micro-era. generation.
Smart meters are power and gas meters that can communicate with energy suppliers and household appliances to ensure a more uniform match between supply and demand & colon;
Power stations can avoid generating excess power, electrical appliances can be cheaper, lowdemand periods.
Governments around the world want smart meters to help their countries achieve their greenhouse gas emissions targets.
The United States released plans for them last week (PDF)
The British government hopes that every family will have these homes by 2020.
Alistair Morfey of Cambridge Consulting UK said that these goals are unlikely to be achieved because smart meters do not have the agreed means of communication.
"Energy suppliers are very worried because people are afraid to make wrong decisions," he said . ".
No one wants their meters to become out of date because of later changes in appliance manufacturers, energy suppliers or both.
This has already happened in Italy, and about 27 million m of equipment was installed by 2005, which was able to communicate with suppliers, but without equipment and no upgrade option.
Universal Metering Interface (UMI)
Cambridge Consulting announced today that,
The power supply interface is designed to avoid indecision by enabling the meter to be upgraded.
Companies that are waiting for smart meters to use Bluetooth or ZigBee technology for wireless links, for example, can now install them for later modifications.
Morfey said: "USB is a good way to solve this problem, but its power consumption is too high.
"The specifications of UMI have been opened for anyone to use and the format will be available next week at the metrology Europe show in Barcelona, Spain.