December 22, 2003—Ember Corp. and Honeywell International will collaborate on a $10 million cost-share project co-funded by the Department of Energy (DOE) that will pursue development of energy-saving wireless mesh networking applications for federally designated “industries of the future,” Ember announced. The project is part of a $61 million national program, announced in November by Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, to improve energy efficiency in strategic industries such as petrochemicals, electric power and manufacturing.
Ember, a developer of embedded wireless mesh networking technology, and Honeywell’s Automation and Control Solutions (ACS) business will create a new wireless system architecture that minimizes power consumption in heavy industrial facilities. Ember will provide the embedded wireless networking intelligence that ties together sensor, radio communications and security technologies from other team members. Ember’s EmberNet is a resilient mesh networking protocol that creates robust, self-organizing, self-healing, easy-to-deploy networks.
Ember and Honeywell plan to develop monitoring applications to stem energy loss from industrial components like steam traps, and electric motors. Honeywell estimates the wireless mesh network monitoring applications can save up to 192 trillion BTUs (British thermal units) of energy per year, with corresponding cost reductions and environmental benefits. That’s nearly as much energy as the entire state of Washington generated by burning natural gas in 2003.
“The Honeywell team will change industrial energy management for the better,” said Ember CEO Jeff Grammer. “Energy efficiency measures were plateaued for years because although there was the will and the technology to conserve energy, it was impossible at any given time to know which parts of an operation were working inefficiently. The advances we’ve made in wireless mesh technology over the last few years change all that. Now, companies can put energy sensing devices everywhere in their operation and tie them together with networks that get energy consumption information in the hands of people who can put it to good use.”
For additional information, visit Honeywell.
