The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) publishes a new American National Standard-- the ANSI/CEA-2045 Modular Communications Interface for Energy Management.
The standard specifies a modular communications interface (MCI) for energy management signals and messages sent by devices (such as sensors, thermostats and appliances, as well as energy management hubs, controllers and residential gateways) within home and smart-grid systems.
The result of a CEA cooperation with SGIP (the public/private Smart Grid Interoperability Panel), ANSI/CEA-2045 specifies a plug-in module with a wired connection between residential devices and external communication links of the power line carrier (PLC) and radio (RF) variety.
The MCI also passes ClimateTalk, generic IP, OpenADR, SEP and USNAP application message between communications module and end-device.
Users can install the MCI plug-in module into smart-grid ready products-- but again, only in the US, at least so far.
Go CEA Announces New Modular Communications Interface Standard for Energy Management