Remember those lucky people in Groningen participating in this experiment where EU money is setting them with up smart appliances, wirelessly communicating over the internet to save money and energy? Soon we too can set up such a network at our own homes! People Power is bringing us – if all goes well before the end of April – SuRF Developer’s Kit, an open source hardware and software development kit based on the OSHAN protocol (Open Source Home Area Network). SuRF allows you to effectively set up your own ‘Internet of Things‘ and make your house one high-tech, smart, communicative digitally breathing network! This sounds too good to be true 
.
You’ll be able to track the usage of any of your appliances through web interfaces, but there’s no limits to what you can do, since the software is all open source. Imagine tweeting coffeemakers and emailing power sockets. You can essentially program any of your appliances hooked up to the network.
On a sidenote, People Power is running a competition, challenging YOU to design the most awesome SuRF-application. You’ll win 5.000USD, 5.000 shares of PeoplePower, and a free SuRF board (your 2nd one at that time, I assume 
). Check out the competition page for more information! And you’ll ofcourse need to pre-order your SuRF board so you can start tinkering as soon as possible! I want one!
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About David Graus
David Graus used to write on popular science for (very) traditional media. After wrapping up his job, traveling for a couple of months and returning to university to get his Master's degree he made the leap to the blogosphere! He likes science and techy stuff. You can follow David on Twitter: @dvdgrs 
I want one!
Hello from Norway! I have found your article post on alltheweb. Interesting content! Melissa M. Clayton x
Smart Grid’s are OK in principle, but the method of data communication between nodes should also be “Clean and Green”. That is, not spew out Radio Frequency interference far and wide, like many Solar GridTie inverters do, & also PLT/PLA systems. The power grid was never designed or intended to take such wide band data signals, as a result, it leaks like a sive at such frequencies, poluting the EM spectrum far and wide!