Google PowerMeter puts your home energy use on your homepage

Google's PowerMeter will allow you to monitor how much electricity your home is using, even when you are on holiday on the other side of the world.

Google PowerMeter is a free electricity usage monitoring tool and is a product of Google.org the philanthropic arm of the company. On Oct 28th, 2009 PowerMeter was introduced into the UK. For the moment, the tool is only available to consumers who buy a gadget called AlertMe Energy or who switch to a small energy supplier called first:utility. PowerMeter receives information from utility smart meters, and from conventional meters via an add-on clip, and displays the electricity usage on the consumer’s Google homepage. These graphic representations show the consumer’s energy consumption over the days, weeks, and months. PowerMeter will also compare this information with a consumer’s previous energy statistics. Using any Internet terminal or their own mobile phone, consumers will be able to check the energy use in their home even when they are away on holiday. The idea is that this instant feedback on their energy usage will make consumers sit up and take notice of how much electricity they use when switching on their various household appliances. The UK Government’s own Energy Saving Trust believes this kind of monitoring leads to a modest cut in people’s bills, ranging from 3 to 15%.