Home power meters revisited

In an earlier postI discussed the utility (or otherwise) of the 24 hour power consumption graph and questioned why Google and Microsoft were both investing in this approach to home energy efficiency. Since then both Google and Microsoft have stopped their efforts in this area.

Interestingly, in Europe I’m seeing more and more homes with devices like the one shown here that provide real-time power consumption information. One of the more interesting uses for devices like these is as a check that everything has been turned off when a homeowner is about to leave the house. A quick glance at the meter can reveal if a heater has been left on in a bedroom. Of course the main water heater has the largest impact on the reading but homeowners learn what numbers represent ‘normal’ and can see at a glance when something else has been left on. Clearly a true smart home that can turn devices off when they are no longer in use is still a better long-term solution for this scenario but it’s interesting to see how a fairly simple device can at least provide an indication that everything is off without a significant investment in replacing light switches and device controllers. What would be nicer however would be if the meter included some kind of machine learning so it could show at a glance if the home is in a minimal power state or not.

Sat Jul 02 2011 06:06:21 GMT-0700 (Pacific Daylight Time)

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