Green with Energy, a company that came together at a Dalhousie University’s Startup Weekend last year, is moving from software into hardware with a new product that can help homeowners find where they’re wasting electricity.

Smartcell is a simple, inexpensive device that can plug into a wall socket and provide a graphic illustration of where and when a homeowner can reduce energy consumption, said CEO Megan McCarthy in an interview. “We think we may have come across a solution for home automation,” she said.

Having begun the project at Dalhousie, McCarthy started Green with Energy to work with utilities that use smart meters, so power bills could tell clients where they are wasting electricity and help them reduce consumption. But in recent months the company has developed a piece of hardware that could revolutionize consumer awareness of domestic electricity usage.

The Smartcell is a small device that plugs into any wall-socket, and an appliance can then be plugged into the Smartcell. The cell contains a small transmitter that connects with any household WiFi system, and tells accompanying software how much electricity the appliance is consuming. The result is the homeowners receive a visual, real-time presentation on their computer or device of how much electricity an appliance consumes. By spreading Smartcells throughout the home, homeowners can monitor all their energy consumption and cut back on wasted or inefficient usage.

McCarthy said the Smartcell and billing system go hand in hand and the company is planning to proceed with both projects.

Products similar to Smartcell are currently available at a cost of about $60 each, and Green with Energy believes its product will be priced initially at about $10 to $20, possibly falling to $1 to $2 once it sells in greater volumes.

The company, which is due to present at DemoCamp Halifax on Sept. 23, is working on a prototype, and has the ambitious goal of having a product on store shelves by early 2013.

McCarthy said she understands that developing hardware involves more cost than software, but she and her co-founders – CTO Andrew Coe and CFO Nicole LeBlanc – also see more upside with the concrete product.

“We are looking for full time developers and technical people to hire to help us with execution on the development side and for funding as well,” she said, adding that the company does not yet have a funding target.

Green with Energy began as a project for McCarthy’s sustainability honors thesis at Dalhousie, which proposed a way to help improve energy security for Summerside, PEI. When she presented it at Startup Weekend in November 2011, Coe and LeBlanc came on board and the company began to gel.