Wireless Sensor Networks for a Zero-Energy Home

Energy, especially Electricity has become a critical concern of society. The generation and distribution are, to a large extent, not matched with each other. There are many initiatives to balance the load on the Grid vis-a-vis production and consumption. Recently, technology has made it possible to generate small amounts of energy in each household with solar, thermal, wind and other sources. With storage devices, it is possible to use the generated energy at the sources i.e., localized generation and consumption of energy. The system can be made efficient and possibly design a zero or positive–energy home with the use ICT infrastructure, wireless sensor networks, in particular. This paper proposes a three-layered architecture for this system and also lists several associated issues and challenges.