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Google Wants To Be Your Electricity Meter

Posted by samzenpus on from the google-watt-hours dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Google has teamed up with microcontroller maker Microchip to develop an API for a piece of software called Google PowerMeter, according this EE Times story. Why? Because Google wants to host all the details of the electricity and other energy consumption of people's homes. It wants to do this so that it can show people on their iGoogle homepages when and where they are consuming energy so that they can start to reduce their power consumption. The good news is that it is an opt-in service and free so you don't have to make Google your energy-monitor if you don't want to do so."

21 of 206 comments (clear)

  1. Microsoft too by BadAnalogyGuy · · Score: 4, Informative

    http://www.microsoft-hohm.com/

    Who's following who?

    1. Re:Microsoft too by InsertWittyNameHere · · Score: 5, Informative

      They're extremely different.

      GOOGLE: "PowerMeter is free software that displays details of home energy consumption received from either a smartmeter or another electricity monitoring device."

      vs.

      MICROSOFT: "After signing up for Hohm with your Windows Live ID and Postal Code, you simply enter some information about your home (for example, occupants, appliances and systems) and you will receive your energy report with personalized recommendations. The more information you provide, the more accurate and relevant the recommendations will be."

  2. Now works with Tweet-a-Watt! by sp332 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Google just announced an API for PowerMeter http://googlecode.blogspot.com/2010/03/google-powermeter-api-introduced-for.html , so Adafruit's Tweet-a-Watt can brag to your followers about your home efficiency. http://www.adafruit.com/blog/2010/03/04/google-code-blog-google-powermeter-api-introduced-for-device-manufacturers/

  3. Handy for DEA... by couchslug · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Now the Man can monitor consumption and infer when a weed growing operation is up and running.

    Note electricity consumption, cruise by with thermal cameras to verify, profit!

    --
    "This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
    1. Re:Handy for DEA... by Hatman39 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Well, they've been doing that for god knows how long, but not in the way you think. You see, most weed groweries bypass the meter so they don't have to pay gargantuan energy bills. So, instead the power company looks at the discrepancy between billing and consumption at the block level. If a large enough discrepancy is noted, i.e. something big, they inform the DEA. Note: I assume they do it like this in the USA, as this is how many countries (including my own) do it.

    2. Re:Handy for DEA... by Lumpy · · Score: 5, Interesting

      But that was with the old way of using Metal Halide that you needed 10 1000 watt lamps to grow with. Now with flouresent and LED setups you dont need a whole lot more.

      No I dont grow pot. I have a reef tank. Seeing my energy bill drop by $100.00 a month by switching to LED and FLouresent new tech fro mthe Metal halides I was using was really nice. It also has a side benefit of my corals are doing WAY better and I dont need to run a chiller anymore.

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    3. Re:Handy for DEA... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      I thought you said you didn't grow reefer?

  4. already exists by flok · · Score: 5, Informative

    Such a thing (on-line electricity meter) already exists: Flukso

    Linux-based with wifi uplink to the net and ethernet to configure it. Handles internet-connection downtime gracefully. Completely open so that you can tweak it if you wish to.

    --

    www.vanheusden.com - home of Multitail, HTTPing, CoffeeSaint, EntropyBroker, rsstail, bsod, listener, nagcon, nagi
    1. Re:already exists by flok · · Score: 4, Informative

      Yes, you can.

      See my website: Making your Flukso log to a database/RRD tool

      --

      www.vanheusden.com - home of Multitail, HTTPing, CoffeeSaint, EntropyBroker, rsstail, bsod, listener, nagcon, nagi
    2. Re:already exists by jlp2097 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      These devices are starting to get common in Europe (and maybe elsewehere) - they are called smart meters. They will be required for a smart grid which in turn is presumed to be required for mass deployment of electric cars. These devices are neither new nor did google invent something that hasn't existed before.

  5. Already possible by TSchut · · Score: 4, Informative

    There already exist devices which allow you to monitor your energy consumption by monitoring the dials in your meter box. For instance the dutch http://www.enymate.nl/artikelen/enymate_lite.

    Because this measures consumption by looking at the dial it is also possible to monitor gas and water consumption, and the measurements relate directly to the upcoming bill(s).

    Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with the linked company.

  6. Want to check your consumption? by Viol8 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Check your electricity meter.

    Check it again the next day.

    Subtract the 2 values.

    Really , is this so difficult for some people that they need a gadget to do it for them?

    1. Re:Want to check your consumption? by Lumpy · · Score: 4, Informative

      Actually yes. because your power meter is too inaccurate at small reading to give me a difference in 15 minutes. and when you are chasing down parasitic loads it's important.

      I use the TED5000 (The Energy Detective) works great, is dirt cheap, and gives me an energy data aggregate that is killer in every way. Plus having a Dollar amount in our faces on the counter every minute of the day really makes you pay attention to leaving the basement lights on all day.

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    2. Re:Want to check your consumption? by nschubach · · Score: 4, Insightful

      That's what technology is for... so you don't have to do it yourself the hard way.

      --
      Every time I start to have faith in humanity, I ruin it by driving to work between 7 and 8 am.
  7. Doesn't Google want togo into power trading? by anonymous+cupboard · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I seem to remember that elsewhere it was said that Google wanted to enter the power market. They are a pretty big consumer themselves and are apparently looking to be a supplier but as yet, are not a producer.

    Energy trading is a complex game. Perhaps they hope to get a better advantage by themselves getting better knowledge of how much power people are busing and when.

  8. Re:Totally not evil by selven · · Score: 3, Informative

    Has it become fashionable to not even read TFS now? It specifically says "opt in service", ie. if you find the intrusion of privacy unacceptable, you don't have to sign up. There is NOTHING morally wrong about any of this.

  9. skeptical by jonpublic · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Am I the only one who is skeptical of these smart meter devices? I don't want hackers to be shut off my power or anything else.

  10. Re:Blah blah blah by gtbritishskull · · Score: 3, Informative

    What you said does not really make sense to me, and I don't know why you are talking about getting charged for amps. My power company charges me per kilowatt-hour, which is a unit of energy. Amps is just the current flow. The amount of power (and hence energy) being used depends on the voltage as well. I am not sure if what you said is actually wrong, but I am pretty sure it is.

  11. Re:Blah blah blah by MrNaz · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's wrong because it violates the third law of thermofinancials: Bills are always created and can never be destroyed.

    --
    I hate printers.
  12. Re:Google makes it sound cute by gtbritishskull · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Actually, yes I do. Throughout the day the cost of power varies widely. At night it is dirt cheap (because it is produced at a coal or nuclear or hydro power plant) but during the day more plants have to be brought online and shut down as the load varies. That makes it very expensive at some times during the day. For residential consumers, this just gets averaged and they get pretty much a flat rate (some places have a time based tier system). But, if I got charged the current price for power, and could have my house decrease or increase power consumption based upon that price, then my cost would go down, and the total cost of the power grid would go down (because the load is more stable). I don't think they should have the ability to force me to turn off any appliance, but it would be good for the whole system if you let the free market determine the price of power through consumers setting their own limits of which appliances can be running at different price points.

  13. Re:Soon - Google wants to be your valentine - by delinear · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Reading this, I figured Google were setting up the most ridiculously elaborate burglary scheme ever. They've cased the outside of your house with Google Earth, maps and street view. They know you've bought a big shiny new plasma TV via your search history and Google pay, and they even know where it's located in your house because of the Youtube video you posted of your sweet media setup. They also see you've been looking at holidays and now suddenly they can tell your electricity usage has dropped indicating you're away from home...