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 also works with other smart meter devices.
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. They’ve just made another smart move to speed things along by opening up their application programming interface (API) so that developers can start creating tools to interface with PowerMeter. Now developers can create devices and tools that can talk to PowerMeter, making it that much easier to have a whole-house energy monitoring system for a much lower cost, and much sooner than if we wait for a fully developed smart grid to provide it.
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 also about the human benefits that comes from smart grid. With the evolution of the smart grid, companies have been creating a channel of communication, clearly highlighting the positive aspects of smart grid. Considering the current influx of interactive microsites, YouTube videos and pricey commercials, companies have become highly invested in communicating to the consumer that the smart grid, is a good thing.
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.
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 working towards making energy information more widely available to consumers,” Google stated.
Internet search engine and global tech giant, Google Inc., has officially entered the electric utility game, although don’t expect to be writing a monthly check to Google for your electric bill any time soon.
In a unanimous vote the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has approved a request by Google to buy and sell electricity, granting Google “market based rate authority.” But like many new ventures the Mountain View, California-based tech giant embarks on, they don’t exactly know where they’re going with it, or what they’ll do with their newfound authority. But not knowing where things are heading has never stopped Google before.
via Google Electric Co? Search Giant OK’d to Sell Electricity.
Google is making it tough to keep up. There is so much innovation in so many areas that tech journalists have been complaining they can’t digest it all. As an entrepreneur I’m trying to see where there is opportunity to dive in and where there is a higher likelihood to get crushed (been there, done that… GoTo).
There is no doubt about it but Google is a disruptive company.
First Google disrupted search, then advertising, then video (with their acquisition of YouTube), and then Office applications with the launch and continued development of Google Apps for Domains. Most recently Google has disrupted the mobile phone industry, first with the launch of their Android operating system and just a couple of days ago with the launch of their Nexus One mobile phone.
via Google Energy to start disrupting the utility industry?.
Google has joined the IPSO Alliance, a consortium of technology vendors promoting the use of the Internet Protocol for “smart object communications,” once referred to as “the Internet of things.” The vision of this group is that everything from appliances to cars are plugged into an IP network and can communicate via private networks or over the Internet.
… According a press release issued by the IPSO, Google’s interest in the organization is to equip devices so that they can participate in Google’s PowerMeter application, which tracks power usage.
via Google joins IPSO Alliance to help consumers be green citizens | NetworkWorld.com Community.
“What gets measured gets managed.” You may have heard that one at work… numerous times. It applies at home, also, and numerous products exist to help you measure your electricity use, and manage it in a more efficient manner. You may have used a Kill-a-Watt, or read about Google Power Meter with anticipation. Yesterday, a handful bloggers got on the phone with Ron Dembo, CEO of Zerofootprint, to discuss their upcoming answer to smart energy management: the TalkingPlug.
via Plug-in Smart Metering: Zerofootprint’s TalkingPlug | Green Business | Reuters.
On Wednesday of last week, first:utility, a UK energy company, announced that it had become the first UK partner for Google’s PowerMeter. As we covered in a previous blog, PowerMeter is an application that allows users to see a near real-time display of their energy
first:utility is a new residential energy supplier, having launched into the sector just over a year ago. It now has 30,000 customers and claims to be the only UK energy supplier to provide free smart meters, which it is rolling out across the UK. Currently, customers can get energy usage patterns from a Home Display Unit or usage and cost information online from the first:utility web site. PowerMeter is an alternative means to view and manage energy consumption. The PowerMeter service will be free and is due to go live this month.
AlertMe, the award-winning home energy management service, today announced the launch of AlertMe Energy, giving consumers the ability to monitor their home energy usage online and act on that information to reduce their bills and carbon footprint. AlertMe Energy includes easy-to-install hardware and an online service that can be accessed from any Web browser. It is also tightly integrated with Google PowerMeter, making it easy to track energy consumption live from an iGoogle home page.
via AlertMe Energy Launches with Google and British Gas | Reuters.
Energy dashboards were a big subject at West Coast Green this year. But the buzz wasn’t as much around new devices on the market as it was pondering how energy dashboards – and the simple fact of making energy consumption data available to consumers – can change our habits for the better, for good. Not just a novelty anymore but something making their way into our daily life, energy monitoring dashboards have a big role to fill, but still have room for improvement. From panels with key players like Google PowerMeter, PG&E and IBM to un-panels made up of smart meter enthusiasts, there were some big ideas about how energy dashboards will revise the way we interact with our homes and energy sources.
Energy Dashboards Are The Next Major Tool for Energy Efficiency
In a panel on connecting smart buildings to the smart grid, the main focus was on how the end user of electricity can participate in energy efficiency. Andrew Tang, Senior Director, Smart Energy Web at Pacific Gas & Electric stated that we’re a short 12 to 24 months away from power meters being a commonplace item on shore shelves that people pick up regularly to install in their homes and monitor their energy consumption.
via West Coast Green 2009: Can Energy Dashboards Change Behavior, Permanently? : TreeHugger.
One of the biggest hurdles standing between Google and wide adoption of its home energy management system PowerMeter — a service that makes your electricity consumption and pricing data available on the web — is that it depended on the broad roll out of smart meters (advanced meters capable of transmitting data to utilities and customers in real time). With only asmall percentage of smart meters in the field, this won’t be a reality for a while.
But today, Google announced a new partnership with Energy Inc., a provider of home energy measurement devices that negate the need for smart meters. Now homeowners and businesses that want to use PowerMeter to keep tabs on how much energy they are using won’t have to wait for their local utilities to install smart meters. Instead, they can buy one of Energy Inc.’s monitoring devices called the TED 5000 (short for The Energy Detective), for $200. This monitor makes the data you want available via any internet browser and any computer, all for free after initial purchase.
via Google lands energy device partner, doesn’t have to wait for smart meters | VentureBeat.
When Secretary of Energy Stephen Chu visited the Daily Show with John Stewart last week, he couldn’t give Stewart an honorary membership to the National Academy of Sciences, so instead Chu gave Steward a “Nerds of America Society” t-shirt.
Secretary Chu, a Nobel Prize winner who recently joined Facebook, was on Comedy Central boosting the administration’s $60 billion investment in American clean energy and energy efficiency in front of a big, young audience eager for change.
That kind of money is no laughing matter and dozens of technology companies, from GE to Google to a spate of newly incorporated startups, are lining up to compete for their slice of the pie.
Google announced Power Meter in February to help utility companies display electricity consumption data to customers via the web. Studies have shown that when consumers have real-time data (via a smart grid or home rig), they tend to consume less electricity and save money.
Microsoft fired back in June with Hohm, which doesn’t wait for smart grid deployment to begin helping homeowners save money. Give Hohm an exhaustive set of details about your home (pun intended – an Ohm is a unit for measuring electrical current) and it returns a tailored set of energy efficiency improvement recommendations.
Companies haven’t begun marketing all this fancy new smart grid technology and data to consumers yet, but that hasn’t stopped consumers from getting increasingly interested in renewable energy and energy efficiency.
via With Consumer Interest in Energy Efficiency Rising Online, Some Utilities May Be Missing Out.
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