Gimme, Gimme, Gimme…Google PowerMeter

Google’s PowerMeter is yet another clever and much needed application of technology. We residential folk have got to start pulling our weight, energy conservation wise and to get started, Google finds inspiration in a quote from Lord Kelvin,

“If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it.”

Sure, powerstrips to cut ‘vampire power’ is a good start, but just how much is being saved energy wise? How much does it cost me to leave a couple of lights on over the weekend while I am away? How much does it cost to dry of my underwear? Google PowerMeter to the rescue. The tool, still under wraps, will allow me and my power company to track my household usage in order to better understand how I use electricity.

Google, why must you tease me? Why must I wait? Well for starters, my home (and just about everybody else’s home) does not have a smart power meter installed. Indiana Michigan Power company began installing 10,000 smart meters in South Bend late last year. The power company has a nifty little QuickTime video on how smart meters work that is worth checking out.

So, to recap: IPL installs a smart meter + Google releases PowerMeter to the public (when?) + I shell out a couple of hundred bucks for Google PowerMeter sensors = me as a smarter energy consumer.

Obama directs the Dept. of Energy to do its job

I was pleased to see the Department of Energy reintroduced to its 33 year old directive to set appropriate energy efficiency standards for common household and commercial appliances. It should be no surprise that the Bush era DOE was too cozy with the private sector and was eventually sued for their inaction. It’ s a logical mandate given these times, private sector be damned. You’d be a bit embarrassed if you compared our progress to that of Japan. They are political and cultural crusaders on the matter. It’s quite remarkable what we are capable of should we dedicate ourselves like the Japanese:

Japan’s population and economy are each about 40 percent as large as that of the United States, yet in 2004 it consumed less than a quarter as much energy as America did

Looking at this graph from Carbon Kids blog, we oughta be getting on the whole mandated home energy conservation bandwagon.