The Home Energy Manager (HEM) prototype was unveiled at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show. It is touted as a consumer-friendly, end-to-end coordinated home energy-management solution. The Home Energy Manager is a collaboration by Whirlpool, Direct Energy, OpenPeak, Lennox International, and BestBuy.http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10426301-54.html http://ca.news.finance.yahoo.com/s/06012010/31/link-f-prnewswire-power-people-direct-energy-whirlpool-corporation-best-buy.html The HEM uses OpenPeak's OpenFrame as the communications center using a touchscreen device. Savings up to 25 percent per month on energy bills is expected.http://www.i4u.com/article29741.html

The HEM is expected to serve as both an information center for energy management but also entertainment. Weather news provides key information but news, music, and movie applications would be built onto the platform.

The prototype will be placed in some consumers' homes in Houston sometime in 2010 to get data on consumer behavior and usage of home energy management systems. The optimization of heating and cooling is one obvious area. Other players exist in the market including security service providers such as iControl and Schlage.http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10426301-54.html

There were other home energy management tools at CES Intel demonstrated its Intelligent Home Energy Management concept at CES.http://www.gizmag.com/intel-intelligent-home-energy-management-concept/13808/. There was also the General Electric Smart Home Energy Panel, Direct Energy Energy Gadget, Control4 Energy Management Gear, Tenrehte Technologies Wi-Fi Smart Plug, and the Intamac Energy Offering.http://earth2tech.com/2010/01/08/5-energy-management-tools-launched-at-ces/ The iPad and similar touchscreen devices may be the wave of the future supplanting the devices like the HEM.http://earth2tech.com/2010/04/06/how-the-ipad-could-disrupt-the-home-energy-market/?utm_source=earth2tech&utm_medium=most-commented

The Home Energy Manager consists of a dashboard from OpenPeak, two-way thermostat from Lennox International, and controllable appliances from Whirlpool.http://green.venturebeat.com/2010/01/06/home-energy-management-gets-a-star-turn-at-ces/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Venturebeat+%28VentureBeat%29

Homeowners will program specific appliances to run at certain times using the OpenPeak overlay. They can move home temperatures up and down based on time of day and peak/off-peak charges. The console provides a unified view of home energy consumption and trends. Whirlpool appliances can be directly operated through the controller.http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/company-news/making-home-energy-management-smarter-and-a-lot-easier/19308133/

The HEM is a prototype. There are only concept pictures available for this class of products (see gallery on reference).http://ces.cnet.com/8301-31045_1-10426301-269.html Open Peak raised $52 million in venture capital for its iPad-like device which strengthens its position in the competitive energy management field.

Control4: Turns the iPad into your central home dashboard assuming you have the Control4 system in place.http://earth2tech.com/2010/04/05/5-green-apps-were-excited-about-for-the-ipad/