GBA Logo horizontal Facebook LinkedIn Email Pinterest Twitter Instagram YouTube Icon Navigation Search Icon Main Search Icon Video Play Icon Plus Icon Minus Icon Picture icon Hamburger Icon Close Icon Sorted
Green Building News

能源监控工具从谷歌和微软

Two of technology’s biggest players aim to give residential utility customers more control over their energy use

Energy appSoon to be deployed in a beta version, Microsoft Hohm is an online application designed to help consumers better understand and reduce their energy usage. Microsoft says the tool uses advanced analytics licensed from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the U.S. Department of Energy to provide consumers with personalized energy-saving recommendations. Information about signing up for the service is available at http://www.microsoft-hohm.com.
Image Credit: Microsoft

Google and Microsoft each have developedonline toolsdesigned to help consumers both analyze and trim their residential energy consumption.

Google’s service,PowerMeter, has been under testing for some time but, asa recent CNET News.com storypoints out, is being rolled out gradually. Google has forged partnerships with utilities and meter specialistItron, which will help supply PowerMeter software users with the smart-plug gear and data they need to monitor their energy usage in detail. Right now, the population of PowerMeter users is small, although Google engineer said in a blog posted last month that the company, which is seeking more alliances with smart-meter vendors and utilities, will expand its rollout later this year.

Google estimates that even a basic analysis of usage patterns and appliance performance will help customers reduce electricity use 5% to 15%.

Another CNET storynotes that a competing online service,Microsoft Hohm, will be available for free to consumers (the beta version will launch soon) and work with orwithoutany extra gear.

Craig Mundie, Microsoft’s chief research and strategy officer, told CNET that Hohm, which also will be predicated in part on partnerships with utilities, works by asking people questions about their home and energy use. The more data consumers feed the service, the more detailed Hohm’s recommendations will be.

Of course, while it never hurts to have a couple more diagnostic tools on hand to help increase energy efficiency, it’s not yet clear consumers will be motivated enough to extract benefits from these or any other smart-grid-monitoring product or service that requires significant, hands-on participation.

As Gartner analyst Martin Reynolds told CNET, apathy can be a bigger obstacle than ignorance when it comes to cutting energy consumption.

One Comment

  1. Mark Bartosik||#1

    nega watts
    I'm hoping that these services will also provide for uploading of solar output data. I'm ready to write the software the transmit the data from my SMA inverters.

Log in or create an account to post a comment.

Related

Community

Recent Questions and Replies

  • |
  • |
  • |
  • |