Earning energy independence is no longer the headache of the statesmen alone. The masses are equally interested to learn about the ways in which they can reduce energy consumption and cut on their energy budget.

In a recent survey, international research firm Parks Associates (News - Alert) has pointed out that, more than 80 percent of U.S. consumers are interested in learning about how to cut their energy costs, 50 percent of U.S. households are very interested in an energy-monitoring device, and 80-85 percent of households are willing to pay $80-$100 for cost-saving equipment if they are guaranteed to save 10-30 percent off their monthly electricity bill.

Watteco is a leading name in energy efficient intelligent home appliances. This renowned System on Chip (SoC) manufacturer is all set to cash in the trend. Accordingly the company has come up with the world's first software solution that enables users to monitor the energy usage of a home's water heaters, HVAC systems and other major appliances, using a non-intrusive energy-analysis algorithm. For the home owners, the software offers the most hassle free solution for monitoring energy consumption, as it requires only a single hardware connection at the smart meter or breaker box for access to information of a home's major electrical loads.

Although average home owners are interested in keeping a tab on their energy usage, the available energy monitoring applications often fail to provide a foolproof picture simply because many appliances are inter connected. By embedding the same technologies into energy monitoring applications, the manufacturers can kick off a new manufacturing trend in the energy monitoring and controlling industry.

"Energy applications are popular now because of the need for cost savings, but in the end, many home systems will be interconnected. By embedding their technologies into energy-related appliances and systems, controls and monitoring companies can get a foothold in the home and start to build traction on a mass scale with consumers," Bill Ablondi, the director of home systems research at Parks Associates observes.

Watteco's enPowerMe software is designed to address this gap by providing energy usage data about individual appliances being used at home.

"Watteco's enPowerMe software enables OEMs to build energy-monitoring solutions that make it easy to give consumers information and alerts about energy costs and savings opportunities. enPowerMe provides visibility into the energy usage of individual appliances that, in aggregate, represent 80 percent of a home's typical power consumption, and which now can be monitored by providing users with disaggregated data for per-appliance energy-consumption analysis," said Didier Boivin, CEO of Watteco SAS (News - Alert). "OEMs can use it to build solutions to make it significantly easier for consumers to understand the importance of energy monitoring, and to actively participate in reducing their household energy consumption."

In a recent release, Watteco said that enPowerMe software is ideal for smart meters, home displays and home area networks (HANs). Instead of using both active and reactive, power measurement, the application uses only active, which reduces costs. It combines a robust inference engine with statistical time analysis and a probability index that was created from the energy-usage profiles of an exhaustive list of thousands of appliances.

The profiles were generated over the course of five years real-life residential surveys. It can be used to generate information at the meter or in a home display about cost and savings opportunities which can be used to trigger early warning alerts. It also can fuel HAN gateway systems in command-and-control applications with activity index monitoring.

Earlier this year, Watteco has announced partnership with another French firm, Coronis to develop solutions on home automation technology.

Last year Watteco has won France's inaugural small and medium enterprise, or "SME," Digital Green Innovation Prize for achievements in eco-sustainable technologies that reduce carbon footprints and improve energy efficiency. It was in recognition of the company's development of a unique Power Line Communication, or "PLC," solution for the Smart Energy Command & Control Market.