Jan 9, 2024   SOURCE: BusinessWire

Home Connectivity Alliance Announces HCA Energy Management Interface Specification 1.0 at CES 2024

Home Connectivity Alliance (HCA), an organization dedicated to the development and promotion of secure interoperability and energy savings across long-life appliances, HVAC systems and TVs within the connected home ecosystem today announced the release of its HCA Energy Management Specification 1.0 at CES 2024 in Las Vegas, Nev., USA on Jan. 9-12, 2024.

“HCA Energy Management is based on the principle that appliance manufacturers – like those involved in the Home Connectivity Alliance – are in the best position to determine the energy management potential of connected appliances,” said Yoon Ho Choi, Home Connectivity Alliance President. “Appliance manufacturers can make decisions that prioritize user experience, while delivering value to utilities and aggregators. We look forward to working with our partners in energy management to realize the savings and benefits for consumers.”

In 2023, Home Connectivity Alliance announced the HCA Interface Specification 1.0, establishing an industry standard for Cloud-to-Cloud (C2C) interoperability across long-life appliances, HVAC systems and TVs within the connected home ecosystem, and setting the stage for HCA Energy Management.

With HCA Energy Management, key data from appliances that consume the most energy – including how much power they use and how to optimize it – become more accessible. HCA members can offer energy usage insights that empower consumers to leverage HCA technology, resulting in energy efficiency and cost savings.

Additionally, Home Connectivity Alliance announced that Hartford Steam Boiler and Midea Group has joined the alliance.

HSB (Hartford Steam Boiler) is a multi-line specialty insurer and provider of inspection, engineering, risk management and technology-related services. HSB insurance offerings include equipment breakdown, cyber risk, specialty liability, and other coverages for both commercial and personal lines markets. HSB, part of Munich Re, is headquartered in Hartford, Connecticut, U.S., and is a leading provider of equipment breakdown insurance and related inspection services in North America, serving over five million commercial locations.

Midea Group is the world’s largest manufacturer of consumer appliances and major appliances. It offers household and commercial air conditioning appliances, refrigeration, laundry, and large cooking appliances, kitchen appliances, water appliances, vacuum appliances, small domestic appliances, and lighting. Midea Group offers one of the widest-ranging product portfolios, from mass-market products to premium goods. It also carries a diverse range of brands under Midea Group’s umbrella, including globally recognized household names like Toshiba, Midea, Comfee’, Eureka, COLMO, Beverly, Vandelo, and Little Swan.

The specification will be available for public viewing on the HCA website and open sourced to HCA members. HCA membership is necessary for use of HCA specifications, to become a member, visit www.homeconnectivityalliance.org/membership.

Visit HCA Members at CES 2024

  • Eureka a Midea Brand: Venetian Expo, Halls A-D 52332
  • LG Electronics: LVCC, Tech East, Central Hall 16008
  • Resideo: Tech West, Venetian Expo, Titian 2201
  • Samsung Electronics: LVCC, Tech East, Central Hall 19608

Member Company Supporting Quotes

Arçelik

“Arçelik, a founding member of the HCA, is dedicated to driving innovation in smart home technology, with a particular focus on energy efficiency. Our commitment to developing and implementing interoperable solutions for smart energy management solidifies our leading position in shaping the future of sustainable living. We believe that the intersection of innovation and sustainability is not only a business imperative, but a key driver in creating a smarter, greener, and more connected future for homes worldwide. Through our active engagement with the HCA, we take pride in contributing to the transformative journey of the connected home ecosystem by enabling seamless communication among diverse smart devices.”

- Hakan Bulgurlu, CEO, Arçelik

Hartford Steam Boiler

“The idea of the ‘connected home’ continues to expand and become more complex. HSB understands the complex relationship between home systems and technology. We bring a unique perspective to this alliance – the combination of our engineering expertise and extensive experience with equipment breakdown is a natural complement to HCA’s holistic approach to home systems. Only by working together as an alliance will we be able to pave the road to a more efficient and sustainable future.”

- John Riggs, Chief Technology Officer, Senior Vice President Applied Technology Solutions for HSB

LG Electronics

"LG seeks to play a leading role in the continuing evolution and advancement of the smart home ecosystem. Our focus is on ensuring that the interoperability experience is effortless and seamless for everyday consumers, enabling them to fully leverage the benefits of a smart home. We look forward to seeing services and new business models to enhance the experience for the consumer."

- Jung Ki-hyun, Executive Vice President and Head of Platform Business Center

Midea Group

"We are thrilled to be a part of the Home Connectivity Alliance and contribute to the development of interoperability standards for connected homes. At Midea Group, we are committed to providing our customers with innovative and sustainable solutions that enhance their daily lives. By joining forces with other leading manufacturers, we can create a more seamless and user-friendly connected home experience for consumers around the world. We believe that HCA will play a crucial role in shaping the future of the smart home industry, and we are excited to be a part of this mission. We also look forward to leveraging the upcoming energy management specifications from HCA to drive greater collaboration with the energy industry and help consumers save money while promoting a more sustainable future for all."

- Baker Bi, Head of International Intelligence, AI Innovation Center, Midea Group

Resideo

“There are many large energy loads in the home, and it will take a joint effort across many industries to help build a resilient electric grid. Resideo and our grid services experts helped design the HCA energy management specification with this resiliency in mind, and we look forward to working with manufacturers to support critical energy shifting services on the cloud-to-cloud platform trusted by nearly 300 U.S. utility partners and appliance manufacturers."

- Linsey Miller, HCA Board Director and SVP, Business Development and Strategic Marketing, Resideo

Samsung

“Samsung remains committed to HCA’s vision of providing consumers with flexibility and choice in managing their home appliances, TVs, and HVAC systems. Our appliances are infrastructure devices in the home that consumers trust and use every day and we look forward to leveraging HCA’s specifications to deliver innovations that will benefit consumer’s lives in a tangible way. The new energy management specifications will help to foster new untapped opportunities to collaborate with energy industry to save consumers money and accelerate Samsung’s vision for a more sustainable home.”

- Moohyung Lee, Executive Vice President and Global Head of the Consumer Experience Team of the Device eXperience Business, Samsung Electronics

Trane

“At Trane and American Standard, our digital and engineering teams are identifying equipment from HCA member companies and implementing the 1.0 standards in our integration with these products. Building out these capabilities will allow our customers to choose where and how they interact with our products and lay the foundation for whole-home energy management in the future.”

- Erin Joy, Vice President of Digital for Trane Technologies Residential HVAC and Supply

Vestel

"At Vestel, we have integrated sustainability into all our processes as a part of the journey we set out on with the vision of becoming a technology company that makes life easier, manufactures accessible smart products and provides social and environmental benefits. Our goal is to achieve net zero across the entire value chain by 2050 and to develop solutions that meet the needs of a sustainable future.

We have been on the board of directors of the Home Connectivity Alliance (HCA) for 2 years, which was established in 2021 with the mission of offering consumers more choices in a secure and interoperable connected ecosystem. As part of our HCA membership, we have collaborated with the world's leading technology manufacturers on the integration of smart products and applications. We are now taking the communication infrastructure we have created to the next level and implementing a project that will control energy consumption. As the world's leading global technology manufacturers under the roof of HCA, we will continue to take responsibility for the future of our world with this step we have taken to solve the global problem of finding a balance between energy production and consumption. We will continue to work in cooperation with HCA to integrate these efforts into the lives of consumers."

- Ergün Güler, CEO, Vestel

About Home Connectivity Alliance

The Home Connectivity Alliance is a member-driven organization comprised of 17 global brands dedicated to the development and promotion of safe and secure interoperability and energy savings across long-life appliances, HVAC systems and TVs within the connected home ecosystem. For more information, visit www.homeconnectivityalliance.org.