Google’s plan to roll-out home energy monitoring systems took a step towards reality Tuesday when the company announced the first round of utility partners for its PowerMeter demand-side energy management software.
The pilot program for Google’s foray into smart grid and energy management infrastructure will be available to select customers at a group of eight utilities that have installed—or are in the process of installing—smart meters. With the move, Google will be making the company’s first significant play in energy-use data, an entirely new dimension of consumer data for the company.
By having real-time information about home energy usage on a desktop (running as a Google Gadget), those using the meter will be able to use their energy more efficiently, save money on their monthly bill, and be able to monitor/reduce household carbon emissions.
Google only announced its PowerMeter smart-meter platform in February (see our posts on the announcement here, here and here). But some startups are already chomping at the bit to access the platform.
In fact, two of the startups that presented at Earth2Tech’s Green:Net conference last week specifically said they are interested in using PowerMeter when it becomes available.
There’s a famous quote from Lord Kelvin: “If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it.” When it comes to lowering your energy consumption, Google says, “You CAN measure it, you CAN improve it.” Folks who monitor their home energy usage are, on average, able to reduce their consumption by 5-15%. That adds up! For every six households that save the median amount of energy through monitoring, it’s the equivalent of taking one car off the road. Imagine if, instead of just six, there were millions of households! That’s Google’s plan.
Google is persisting in its quest to change the way we live with the announcement earlier today of Google PowerMeter, a program that displays real-time information about home energy consumption on your computer. The program is in closed beta right now, but Google hopes that it will eventually be distributed to anyone who has a smart meter.
