Google developing power-saving software tool

13 February 2009

With its latest offering, Google is continuing on its trailblazing innovations, the latest, announced on its official blog on 10 February, being PowerMeter, a software tool designed to ''show consumers their home energy information almost in real time, right on their computer.''

The gadget, still in the prototype stage, can break down for the homeowner how much energy is being used and what it is being devoted to - for instance, showing a homeowner trying to lower her bill that it is the dryer rather than the television that is costing her the most money. As with other popular Google services, PowerMeter would be totally free, both to private users and commercial users.

The project is also designed as an effort towards greener living, Google's premise being that when homeowners can see exactly how much energy they're using and where it's going, it is far easier to decide where and how to make changes than it is when receiving an abstract dollar amount at the end of each month.

The company cited studies showing that access to home energy information typically saves between 5 per cent and 15 per cent on monthly electricity bills. "It may not sound like much, but if half of America's households cut their energy demand by 10 per cent, it would be the equivalent of taking eight million cars off the road," Google said.

Kristen Olsen Cahill, a product manager for Google, has indicated that if 5.3 million people were to use PowerMeter to each lower their consumption by 10 per cent, the resulting energy would be enough to power an entire city.

PowerMeter is not yet available to the general public, but Google says they're heading that way. Currently they are in the process of running extensive beta tests and, according to the Google blog, they are ''building partnerships with utilities and independent device manufacturers to gradually roll this out in pilot programs.''