Apple smart home app launches latest feature: clean energy query

At Apple’s iPhone 15 conference, the focus was on the company’s efforts to move toward carbon neutrality. At the same time, they are also launching a new smart home feature aimed at reducing the impact on the planet

With the release of iOS 17, Grid Forecast is a new tool in Apple Home that can Shows when relatively clean or less clean energy is available on the grid. This helps decide when to run a tumble dryer or charge an electric car to take advantage of "cleaner" energy when consumption is higher.

Grid Forecast is available in the Home app for iPhone, iPad, Mac, and updated Apple Watch devices coming this fall, with iOS 17 set to be publicly released on September 18. It's also available as an iOS widget or watch face complication, and is available stateside in the United States.

Using cleaner energy sources, such as those produced by wind or solar power, or using electricity produced with lower emissions, can reduce the climate impact of using electricity in your home.

Although Apple's first implementation of this feature was completely manual - you need to check Home or turn on notifications to know when energy is cleaner, if Apple supports energy management functions in its smart home platform, then its Can be combined with automation.

Smart homes are in a unique position to help automate this type of energy management, and there are already smart home solutions that allow charging an electric car or running a dishwasher when energy is cheaper or cleaner run.

Apple has introduced clean energy charging in iOS 16.1, which is designed to charge your phone when clean energy is available. Therefore, automating smart home devices to perform the same actions should be a natural next step. Even Microsoft could schedule Windows updates for when more green energy is available.

Other smart home platforms are far ahead of Apple in this regard. Samsung's SmartThings Energy is a service that views real-time energy usage of connected devices and provides tips on ways to reduce energy use. Samsung recently added artificial intelligence capabilities that can automate some energy-saving functions and integrates with the power map service to display real-time information about energy and its carbon intensity to help better manage the carbon footprint.

Apple said Grid Forecast uses data that combines grid, emissions and weather information to provide a simple graphical representation of when energy is or is not clean. This is a good start for home energy management. But adding the ability to automate how and when households use this clean energy is critical, and it’s more than just a data point.

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