There’s definitely no shortage of smart plugs on on the market right now, but they’re not all created equally. Most are pretty bare bones, and merely allow you to remotely switch things on or off with a smartphone, but lately we’ve been seeing more more plugs that can also track energy consumption.
Parce, a startup based in Germany, is the latest company to come forward with such a plug. Its flagship product, the Parce One, is a lot like the energy tracking Insight Switch from Belkin, but with a few distinct differences. It does all the same tricks – tracks your electricity usage of any fixture it’s plugged into, and can turn stuff on/off remotely via a smartphone app – but it also has the ability to learn your habits, much like how Nest’s infamous thermostat learns what temperature you like.
Once you’ve finished the dead-simple setup process and synced the One to your home Wi-Fi network, you have the option of setting up custom automations, or simply leaving it be and letting the plug learn your habits. If you choose not to tweak it at all, the plug will gather information on when you’re using certain appliances, and over time will be able to automatically turn them off when you’re not using them. In essence, it takes the hassle out of monitoring your home’s energy usage.
By the look of the company’s video on IndieGoGo, it appears they’ve also built a rather robust webapp/dashboard you can use to monitor your energy consumption. Assuming what they’re showing in the video is a working program and not just a mockup, the application will allow you to fine-tune your settings, adjust on/off times for each of your connected devices individually, see graphs of your electricity usage over time, and even pinpoint areas where you can cut your consumption and reduce your energy bill.
And to top it all off, Parce is designed to accommodate a wide range of different plug types, so it doesn’t matter what part of the world you’re in – chances are good they’ve got a model that works for your house.
The company is currently running a crowdfunding campaign on IndieGoGo to raise the necessary funds for their first production run
