Blue Line Innovations to Integrate Real Time Energy Data with Lowe’s smart home solution Iris™

Jan. 9, 2012 - PRLog -- San Francisco, CA — Lowe's, the world’s second-largest home improvement retailer, announced it is entering the emerging smart home market, with an affordable, complete system: Iris™. The system is a cloud-based home management system that gives customers the ability to control and interact with their home from anywhere using their smart phone or computer.  Powering Iris with real time electricity data will be Blue Line Innovations’ proven PowerCost Monitor™ sensor and WiFi Gateway.

“Knowledge of whole home energy consumption is fundamental to helping our customers realize savings,” said Kevin Meagher, vice president and general manager of smart home for Lowe’s. “Blue Line Innovations offers a simple, easy to install, scalable product that will allow Iris to deliver a range of innovative new web based support tools and mobile apps to our customer base.”

“Blue Line’s optical sensor is universal, meaning it will fit on almost any electricity meters old and new, smart and not so smart,” said Peter Porteous, CEO of Blue Line Innovations  “Eliminating the chaos of different meters, utilities, and communication protocols is an important must have for a national solution.  Simplicity was also really important for Lowe’s, and the PowerCost Monitor™ sensor is a one screw, self-install product.”

The PowerCost Monitor™ sensor will allow Iris customers to see whole home electricity usage, cost and trends in real time on the internet or smart phones at anytime from anywhere in the world.  With Iris, homeowners will also have the opportunity to act on that critical information to remote control or program devices to reduce usage and cost.

Tom Kerber, Director of Research Parks Associates says, ““Real time energy data enables a whole host of powerful energy management solutions so the universal optical meter reader from Blue Line Innovation is a key part of the Iris smart home system.  It easily attaches to both analog and digital electric meters capturing data to help consumers understand and reduce their energy use.”        


About Blue Line Innovations
Blue Line Innovations Inc. developed and markets the PowerCost Monitor™, a line of wireless, portable, real-time energy reporting devices for the home.  Blue Line Innovations has been active in the business of real time energy feedback for 7 years with over 150,000 PowerCost Monitors™ in the market since 2004.  Easy to install, the PowerCost Monitor™, communicates wirelessly with the electricity meter and now through a series of Gateways; to the internet, mobile devices and to home area networks.   Independent research has confirmed that homes using the PowerCost Monitor™ can save up to 18% on their monthly electricity bill. For more information and the retailer in your area visit, www.bluelineinnovations.com

About Lowe’s
With fiscal year 2010 sales of $48.8 billion, Lowe’s Companies, Inc. is a FORTUNE® 50 company that serves approximately 15 million customers a week at more than 1,725 home improvement stores in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Founded in 1946 and based in Mooresville, N.C., Lowe’s is the second-largest home improvement retailer in the world. For more information, visit Lowes.com. To plan and manage all things home, visit Lowes.com/MyLowes.


Media Contact:
Peter Porteous
CEO
Blue Line Innovations Inc.
506.325.0804
pporteous@bluelineinnovations.com

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Blue Line Innovations Inc. developed and markets the PowerCost Monitor™, a line of wireless, portable, real-time energy reporting devices for the home.
http://www.bluelineinnovations.com