What would you do if you could figure out what device was using the most energy in your house?  Many utilities are installing smart meters on people’s homes.  The utilities can access the information but for the most part, the customers can’t.  It is hard to change habits if you don’t know what you are doing is costing money.  While I wish I could check my electricity levels right away, Google PowerMeter (in beta of course) could help me do that.  That is if I could get it. 

How much does it cost to leave your TV on all day? What about turning your air conditioning 1 degree cooler? Which uses more power every month — your fridge or your dishwasher? Is your household more or less energy efficient than similar homes in your neighborhood?

Our lack of knowledge about our own energy usage is a huge problem, but also a huge opportunity for us all to save money and fight global warming by reducing our power usage. Studies show that access to your household’s personal energy information is likely to save you between 5–15% on your monthly bill, and the potential impact of large numbers of people achieving similar efficiencies is even more exciting.

At some point PowerMeter or something similiar will become available in my area, and then I can see how much energy the vampire devices are draining, how much energy is saved when using CFLs compared to normal bulbs.  Plus, having a graph that is almost real time can be a good teaching tool to compare and contrast for your kids to see what a difference can be made by turning off power hungery devices.  Now to find something similar for water usage.  What would you do with this knowledge?

Mark Viquesney