3 ms·

In my opinion, the "next big thing" in home energy usage is device-level monitoring. The ability to look at your realtime -energy-usage, and say, "Oh, it looks

In my opinion, the "next big thing" in home energy usage is device-level monitoring. The ability to look at your realtime -energy-usage, and say, "Oh, it looks like my fridge is using this much energy, and my A/C is using that much..." There are a couple companies that are starting to offer this. Bidgely - http://bidgely.com/ http://bidgely.com/ - (which is compatible with Wattvision's hardware) on the residential side of things, and Verdigris - http://www.verdigristech.com/ http://www.verdigristech.com/ - on the commercial side.

akurilin 14y ago
We arrived to a similar conclusion as part of our work on this problem at PolarMeter. I do however think that the digitization of an old-school analog meter is a very smart move that will bridge the gap until everybody has a PG&E-style meter. This company in my opinion has the best mix of cost, convenience and monitoring granularity out of all the ones I found: http://www.powerhousedynamics.com/residential-energy-efficiency/electricity-monitor-features-circuit-level-monitoring/ http://www.powerhousedynamics.com/residential-energy-efficie... I just posted the retrospective for our attempt at this very problem. Maybe our research can be of help to the folks at WattVision: http://www.kurilin.net/lessons-learned-the-rise-and-fall-of-polarmet http://www.kurilin.net/lessons-learned-the-rise-and-fall-of-...
jrockway 14y ago
I posted a link to the Tweet-a-Watt which is exactly this. If you don't need computerized monitoring, you can just buy a plain Kill-a-Watt at your local hardware store for $20. I use it on my AC and find it quite helpful.
- atourgates 14y ago
  Actually - the two companies I linked are exciting because they can do device-level monitoring with just a single monitoring device at the meter. Both companies do a horrible job of explaining this on their website, but one of my coworkers went to a presentation they were both at the other week. Basically, they have a database of unique waveforms(?) (I'm an electrical illiterate, so I may be saying something quite stupid) for individual devices and appliances. So, for example, when you plug in MacBook Air to recharge it, they know the unique profile of the effect that device will have on your home or office's power consumption, so they can separate it from your overall power draw. Which means that the software, using a single measurement point, can break down your home or office's entire energy consumption by individual device / appliance in realtime. Which to me, seems a bit mind-blowing. But like I said, both companies do a horrible job of explaining this on their websites.
  - RobotCaleb 14y ago
    That sounds really awesome. Now to find the cheapest hardware to get me on there.

akurilin 14y ago

We arrived to a similar conclusion as part of our work on this problem at PolarMeter. I do however think that the digitization of an old-school analog meter is a very smart move that will bridge the gap until everybody has a PG&E-style meter. This company in my opinion has the best mix of cost, convenience and monitoring granularity out of all the ones I found: http://www.powerhousedynamics.com/residential-energy-efficiency/electricity-monitor-features-circuit-level-monitoring/ http://www.powerhousedynamics.com/residential-energy-efficie... I just posted the retrospective for our attempt at this very problem. Maybe our research can be of help to the folks at WattVision: http://www.kurilin.net/lessons-learned-the-rise-and-fall-of-polarmet http://www.kurilin.net/lessons-learned-the-rise-and-fall-of-...

jrockway 14y ago

I posted a link to the Tweet-a-Watt which is exactly this. If you don't need computerized monitoring, you can just buy a plain Kill-a-Watt at your local hardware store for $20. I use it on my AC and find it quite helpful.

atourgates 14y ago
Actually - the two companies I linked are exciting because they can do device-level monitoring with just a single monitoring device at the meter. Both companies do a horrible job of explaining this on their website, but one of my coworkers went to a presentation they were both at the other week. Basically, they have a database of unique waveforms(?) (I'm an electrical illiterate, so I may be saying something quite stupid) for individual devices and appliances. So, for example, when you plug in MacBook Air to recharge it, they know the unique profile of the effect that device will have on your home or office's power consumption, so they can separate it from your overall power draw. Which means that the software, using a single measurement point, can break down your home or office's entire energy consumption by individual device / appliance in realtime. Which to me, seems a bit mind-blowing. But like I said, both companies do a horrible job of explaining this on their websites.
- RobotCaleb 14y ago
  That sounds really awesome. Now to find the cheapest hardware to get me on there.