9 replies to this topic

[Shortpoet-GTD]

"You may think you know how much electricity you're using, but there's a whole lot more you could
and should know.
But before getting into the gadgetry, one has to ask: why bother with energy monitoring?
Is it green? Does it help me lower my bills? Is there a good payback?
I'd say the main motivation is simply to be better informed.
This week, we got a glimpse of where energy monitoring is going. As part of the White House's Green Button initiative, three California utilities are now letting consumers download detailed electricity data collected by smart meters and are encouraging software developers to build applications with that information.
The apps they showcased visualize and analyze meter data so people can, for example, decide
which electricity rate plan is best, whether it's worth getting solar panels, or compete in online
energy-savings competitions.
In general, the bigger your electricity bills, the more likely you'll find ways to save.
The opposite is also true: if you already make an effort to cut back on waste electricity, this sort of gadget probably won't have a quick payback. On the other hand, you'd never really know without measuring it."
(Full article here)-


http://news.cnet.com...t-clues-you-in/

[mariaandrea]

Very interesting. I think this product would be particularly good for green newbies who are trying to figure out where to start. He did a really good review of it. I also think a monitor that differentiates between solar power and the energy grid is a really important tool to have if you have solar panels. Of course, living in an apartment without easy access to my electrical meter makes this useless for me, but then, I already know to unplug things when they're not in use to help save electricity.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

For me, it's always good to post "awareness" articles from the net, but I also wonder, (even though
smart metering is a good thing) if PG & E is doing this to clean up their image?
There's another bit about good works they've done lately on these boards somewhere........
considering all the cancers they've caused in the past.
But I also know, that without the net info-I wouldn't have heard about Obama's go ahead with green issues.
The media sure doesn't report it.

[jasserEnv]

I personally think that these gadgets are better suited toward industrial consumers of electricity who are using considerable amounts of electricity and whose infrastructure doesn't change very often. They can use such technologies to do a cost benefit analysis of replacing older equipment with more efficient versions in order to cut down recurring energy costs. For people who have regular home electricity bills, you would have to be motivated to save that 10-20% of your power to save a few hundred dollars at most in a year. Doing any more than this would end up costing people money and I believe few would choose to spend it.

[zararina]

Simple taking note of electricity consumed through meter reading (so easy for digital meters) can help us tracking how much electricity our using. Monitoring can help us aware and motivated to save some electricity.  Through simple unplugging of unused appliances or electronics gadgets, some energy are saved.

[artistry]

This would be a help to many households, as well as a great education. Most people just cut the switch off and on, without concern for the amount of energy being consumed or the cost. By letting them see how and what, they can determine for themselves, what the best choice would be. Excellent idea. Thanks for the information.
.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

A new angle on smart meters-
not enough people to analyze the data.
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/

(Which also links back to the unemployment rate. There are jobs to be had, but not enough trained people
to do the work.)

[dconklin]

I am not sure that the gadgets would help me because I am a little more careful with my electricity then some people are.  I can see them helping many people tho! I would be curious to see if and where I could lower my bill, but I am already efficient with my utilities.  I bet my fridge would come up as higher then I would like tho!

[jasonb]

Search images for 'household power consumption' to give easy to read pie-charts on household power consumptions, I was shocked to see that up to 50% can be used for space heating, albeit air-conditioning in the summer or heaters in the winter. Reducing these costs are 'low-hanging fruit' such as replacing your lightbulbs with energy saving CFL's and for your external lights getting new solar power LEDs, with motion detectors.

For space heating there are films now that insulate (if you don't have double-glazing) and even 'solar curtains' which are a good. Most houses are not designed correctly too. Easy way is to have shades above you sun facing windows which shade in summer and let sun in in winter. Look at your longitude to work out the angle, so for me in Cape Town which is 34S, my north facing windows should have shades 30 degree from window top.

[himanshu500]

Very interesting. I think this product would be particularly good for green newbies who are trying to figure out where to start like Pacebutler who buys used cell phones