Iris From Lowes. PowerMeter from Google
Iris:
Setting up a smart home gets a whole lot easier. This helps to monitor the home energy use as a kind of side benefit.
One of the advantages of doing this security and home management stuff yourself (DIY) is that the likelihood of actually utilizing it, and utilizing it well increases.
The cost is about $10 per month for more services and longer record times, however?
This probably can’t replace the home monitoring system like ADT. They live-monitor and use the telephone line (not the INet); The Homeowner’s Insurance company likes that type of monitoring for home and fire.
Consider using power monitoring with such visual monitoring tools as those provided free from Google’s PowerMeter: http://www.google.com/powermeter/about/
Simply monitoring power is the key. Two studies reviewed by Google show that a community that engaged in power monitoring had a 71% residential engagement. In a pilot study in Dubuque, Iowa with IBM showed a community realized 11% energy savings simply from monitoring and metering their power usage using SmartMeters… Well, and usage/behavioral changes in usage, of course.
Just thinking, a little energy savings now could save us all a bundle of money this year and every year thereafter. And, oh, by the way, it would save a lot of impact on the environment. Smart Meters sound smarter and smarter.
The greenest kilowatt is the one never used at the meter, never distributed down the transmission lines, never generated in the powerplant and the full source never mined or pumped.
Just thinking.
