GE wants to enable zero-energy housing

General Electric has been pursuing the smart grid for some time—a networked power grid that allows households and appliances to communicate with utilities to help match the houses’ peak demand to the available power. Now, GE has announced that its smart grid efforts are part of a larger vision: a home’s worth of smart appliances that derive power from the house’s own solar panels, all tied together by an energy management device that puts control in the hands of the user. GE plans to sell the whole setup as a package to housing developers, and speculates it will be available as early as 2015.

The GE “Net Zero Energy Home” will offer a package that consists of energy-efficient lighting and appliances that respond to an included power management system, along with power generating devices like solar panels and residential-scale wind turbines. The company will begin rolling out the appliances this year, and expects them to have a premium of only $10 over current offerings.

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