It seems that we are moving ever closer to the home of tomorrow that we were promised in those Tom & Jerry cartoons (remember those?). Search giant Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) announced that it will enter into the burgeoning "smart grid" business, which will help reduce electrical energy consumption. How will the technology work? Well, GOOG has developed a free service called PowerMeter, which consumers can use to track energy usage while it is being consumed in their homes or businesses. Don't worry, this isn't some Big Brother situation, GOOG is not becoming the all-powerful Oz here. According to the head of GOOG's philanthropy arm (yes, they have one), the technology will "depend on a whole ecosystem of utilities, device makers and policies that would allow consumers to have detailed access to their home energy use."
The hope is the technology will help the consumer "make smarter energy decisions." Manufacturers could put a chip in an appliance that will allow you to run it whenever you want (in fact, the story notes that chips have been in your dishwasher "for a long time") in order to save money. In fact, the software could tell the homeowner how much money may be saved by running the appliance at different times.
Is this whole "smart grid" stuff new to you? Well, the stimulus bill that is headed to the House/Senate conference committee has a $4.4-billion allocation for "smart" technologies, which includes power monitors (the "smart meters"). Keep an ear out for this technology, it seems very interesting and could provide control freaks with a new major timewaster.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-03-2009 @ 7:14AM
Stacey said...
This is interesting. I like the concept of the PowerMeter. Helping the environment by keeping track of energy usuage.
I like aim of the service wanting to make people think more about their decisions concerning the way they use energy.
This is definitely a piece of technology that I hope people will understand and utilise to their fullest advantage.
How did you come across this information? Will it be worldwide? Has it started yet?
I from Birmingham, UK am interested in this information.
At the moment I am looking at the environment and how technology can help it. I am interested to see how this will develop.
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