Methinks you have all read about the recent decisions of Google and Microsoft to back off investments in cloud-based services designed to help consumers managed their home electricity consumption. Google blinked first, then Microsoft. Both cited poor consumer adoption in their decisions. I just think they are impatient. via In home energy management, progress despite Continue reading →
Sometimes innovative companies can be a little too ahead of their time. Google and Microsoft are arguably two of the most influential and innovative companies in modern history. Part of their success has been to capitalize on emerging trends by anticipating consumer needs and wants. So it was not terribly surprising when both companies introduced Continue reading →
Internet giants Google and Microsoft have officially given their web-based energy management tools the Donald Trump (as in, “You’re Fired!”), and last week, announced they would be closing them down in the near future. I’ve already dug into a few reasons why I think Google’s PowerMeter tool and Microsoft’s Hohm app didn’t make the cut. But there are Continue reading →
In a recent news release, Google announced that it is abandoning the smart grid market and discontinuing their flagship product PowerMeter. Apparently, the company has “… been unable to turn it into mass-market propositions”. For those of us that are industry veterans, this may not be too much of a surprise. It is not easy Continue reading →
First Google kills its PowerMeter energy monitor this week. Now Microsoft has announced it will curtail its Hohm energy monitoring/energy saving recommendations site, apparently because not many people were using it. Hohm will be available to users until May 31, 2012. And boy, the “tributes” are rolling in—and I use that term facetiously. Abject ridicule, some of Continue reading →
The results of some fairly high profile smart energy management projects (apparently successful) are due this week, but apparently Google didn’t have the patience to wait. The giant Internet services company has officially “retired” the PowerMeter service due to lack of consumer adoption. via What Google’s exit means for energy management in the cloud | Continue reading →
Google officially shuttered its web energy tool PowerMeter Friday after the application failed to bring in enough users. For those who have watched PowerMeter’s slow slog over its two-year lifespan, the move to kill it isn’t all that shocking. But the application, which enabled people to monitor and manage their home energy consumption, does have an Continue reading →
In the wake of Google’s decision to retire its PowerMeter application, industry insiders showed little surprise. But the episode illustrates how the bar has been raised in the nascent home energy management area. Google on Friday said that it decided to retire PowerMeter, a Web application that displays how much electricity a home is using. Continue reading →
Del Mar residents can now keep tabs on how much energy they’re using via Google PowerMeter, an online tool that tracks a household’s power-consumption. The free service is available to any San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E) customers in Del Mar who have a smart meter, a digital device that collects energy-use data, and unlike Continue reading →
Google’s PowerMeter is making huge strides in leapfrogging the lumbering smart meter installation process, with utilities slowly integrating them into the nation-wide smart grid upgrade. For a quick refresher: the smart grid is an electric grid that is wholly connected, from energy source to end user, so that everyone who participates in the grid can Continue reading →
In the smart-grid arena, Google is taking a more overtly commercial position by introducing its own product. To gain broader acceptance for PowerMeter, it is creating a partnership program for hardware manufacturers, utilities, and government agencies. A company that makes a smart meter or in-home display for energy usage could, for example, make its information Continue reading →
Google’s PowerMeter is making huge strides in leapfrogging the lumbering smart meter installation process, with utilities slowly integrating them into the nation-wide smart grid upgrade. For a quick refresher: the smart grid is an electric grid that is wholly connected, from energy source to end user, so that everyone who participates in the grid can Continue reading →
Google PowerMeter now in prototype, will receive information from utility smart meters and energy management devices and provide anyone who signs up access to her home electricity consumption right on her iGoogle homepage. The graph on the right shows how someone could use this information to figure out how much energy is used by different Continue reading →
Will Google’s tools one day help you monitor and manage the energy consumption of appliances like your washer and dryer? The company said yesterday afternoon that it’s partnered with chip maker Microchip to work with developers in order to create embedded devices that are compatible with Google’s energy tool PowerMeter. Microchip says the relationship means Continue reading →
Microchip Technology Inc. (MCHP 28.71, -0.36, -1.24%) , a leading provider of microcontroller and analog semiconductors, today announced the result of its strategic partnership with Google PowerMeter–the first Reference Implementation of the Google PowerMeter API for embedded developers. Designers now have a quick and easy way to enter the global energy-conservation market, by creating products Continue reading →
In a bid to encourage integration of its technology by home developers and manufacturers of a range of electrical devices, Google has released a new PowerMeter API. The code, which is available here, is intended for manufacturers of electrical devices, from refrigerators and washing machines to other appliances, that have built-in energy monitoring technology. It Continue reading →
Google’s PowerMeter tool is taking a bite out of the slow progress we're making toward a smart grid by jumping over utilities that move at the speed-of-molasses and putting energy data in front of users right away, including creating an easy-to-use energy monitoring platform and partnering with home power monitor companies like The Energy Detective. Continue reading →
Learning how smart grid technology works is important but even more significant is figuring out what the technology will do for people. As a way to monitor power demands and reallocate resources there are many companies adopting smart grid technology. The recent buzz around this technology is not only about preventing blackouts and blowouts but Continue reading →
FutureDash Corp., an innovative start-up business-to-business (B2B) software company, announces today that GreenDash™, a new software product allowing manufacturers of consumer networking and electronics equipment to quickly and easily add real-time energy monitoring capabilities to their products, now integrates with Google PowerMeter using the newly announced Google PowerMeter API. via Newswire – PR / FutureDash Continue reading →
Google has released an API for its PowerMeter application in a move which the search giant hopes will help to popularise home smart meters. Late last week, Google announced that it had released the Google PowerMeter API in a blog post. “We’re launching this API in order to help build the ecosystem of innovative developers Continue reading →
