Google's PowerMeter application will allow users to monitor their electricity consumption in near real-time over the Web.
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Coming soon: Google your electricity use
By Eoin O'Carroll | 02.10.09
Google.org, the philanthropy arm of the information giant, announced Tuesday that it is developing software that will allow users to monitor their home’s electricity use in near real-time over the Web.
The Google PowerMeter prototype, which is currently being tested on 30 of the company’s workers, will require “smart meter” hardware that measures electricity use and can transmit real-time data to the power company.
Smart electricity meters have been cropping up on the West Coast lately; according to the San Jose Mercury News, Pacific Gas & Electric has already installed 440,000 of the 10 million meters it plans to have installed by the end of 2011. The economic stimulus plan, approved by the Senate on Tuesday, which authorizes some $4.4 billion for “smart-grid” improvements, includes funding for four million of these monitors over the next three years.
As the Official Google Blog argues, if people could see exactly when they are using electricity and how much they are using, they will come up with ways to save it.
Imagine how hard it would be to stick to a budget in a store with no prices. Well, that’s pretty much how we buy electricity today. Your utility company sends you a bill at the end of the month with very few details. Most people don’t know how much electricity their appliances use, where in the house they are wasting electricity, or how much the bill might go up during different seasons. But in a world where everyone had a detailed understanding of their home energy use, we could find all sorts of ways to save energy and lower electricity bills.
The blog post points to an Oxford University study that those with access to their home’s energy information will cut their monthly electricity bills by 10 to 15 percent.
Google’s PowerMeter pages include testimonials by employees who have been testing the software, which displays moment-by-moment electricity-use graph in an iGoogle gadget.
One Google worker says that she watched her consumption drop by 13 percent after she swapped out her incandescent light bulbs for CFLs. Another says he saved $3,000 dollars in the past year after learning that he was wasting electricity on two old refrigerators and a pool pump that ran constantly (by comparison, the typical US household spends $1,200 annually on electricity). Another says that she used the application to learn that her toaster’s dial had been stuck in the “on” position one morning, a discovery that averted a potential fire.
Google says that it will be expanding the test to about 200 employees in the next few months. The company says that it will make the software publicly available when they think its ready.
The New York Times’s tech blog notes that the information giant has big plans for this gadget:
Google plans to enhance PowerMeter with “social” tools that would allow users to compare their electricity consumption with that of those of their neighbors or friends. And it plans to allow third parties to develop their own applications that would enhance its usefulness. A programmer, for instance, could create a tool that normalizes the data for variations in weather.
The PowerMeter is part of a wider push by Google to influence smart-grid policy so that it can organize the data that such a system would generate. In comments submitted to the California Public Utility Commission on Monday, Google argued that data on personal electricity consumption belongs to the consumer, and that this data should therefore be made available to consumers in an uniform, non-proprietary standard, so that they can analyze it with third-party applications if they want to.
The consumer tech blog Ars Technica notes that the Silicon Valley company is not alone in trying to get its hands on smart-grid data:
Google is entering a field teeming with smaller companies that are already working with utilities. Tendril, for example, already offers both desktop software and a Web portal that integrate usage history, utility rates and power source information, and control of any compatible devices on a user’s home network. The sparse information about its program provided so far suggests that Google’s system will be far less sophisticated.
Still, it’s possible that these companies may welcome Google’s entry to the field. They clearly can provide a more specialized solution than a company devoted to handling all the world’s data and, so far, the search giant is saying all the same things those companies have: we need to get smarter about our power use if we’re ever going to improve our conservation and integrate renewable power on the grid. Having their message validated by a company with Google’s reach might provide everyone in the field with some significant benefits.
Wired’s Alexis Madrigal is uncertain that Google, despite its extensive reach, will succeed in the smart-grid business. He notes that smart meters vary widely; some don’t track usage in real-time, and others don’t even provide data to consumers:
<< As electric cars gain currency, Oregon charges ahead | MainTo become the de facto window into your energy usage, Google will have to use their size and weight to bring some standardization to smart metering practices. To do that, they’ll need hardware manufacturers to come out with very cheap Google-ready devices and then they’ll have talk dozens of utilities into eschewing their own smart meter plans to follow Google’s lead.
Comments
2. DanR | 02.11.09
In response to the first comment, I do not see how knowing when you run your dishwasher is a huge threat to your privacy/security. Google already has advertisements on their site (they have to–that’s one of the ways they make money; most websites do), so again, I do not see how it is an issue to have the “smart meter” from them. Besides, the people who use this sort of product are probably the ones who are already targeted for “energy efficient widgets” ads anyways.
3. Cheeseboy | 02.11.09
It’s scary because at some point this information can be used to determine an individual’s or household’s ‘carbon footprint’ and then be taxed on it. You know that’s where they are going.
4. Peter Black | 02.12.09
Eoin,
This doesn’t surprise me in the least. Google has shifted its business model towards energy and this isn’t the end of it. They’re positioning themselves to be the kings of the entire smart grid system. I understand the trepidation that this stirs in some people, but I believe that the company is finding ways to benefit mankind as well as make boatloads of cash. It’s the socially responsible business model on a grand scale
PB
5. jimbodidley | 02.12.09
Google aside, let’s consider the larger privacy and security concerns associated with the “SmartGrid”; How long is it going to be before your neighbor’s 15 year old “script kiddie” child attaches to his/her folk’s smart meter and hacks his/her way into yours? Just for “fun”, a malicious attacker could add a usage multiplier and run your bill into the millions of dollars. “Pwnd!”, “W00t!”
For that matter, how long is it going to be before the “bad guys” hack into the grid and wreak havoc. With an access point to the electrical power grid (or at least the billing system) attached to every residence, what are the larger security considerations?
Can we absolutely guarantee that there will never be an opportunity to breach security from one of these devices and launch an attack against the electrical grid at large?
I think not…
6. DanR | 02.12.09
Cheeseboy - Correct me if I’m wrong, but the way you talk about it, you seem to think that there is some “greater plan” where Google and the US government are in league with each other in some grand scheme or something.
Even if there eventually is a Carbon Footprint tax, I don’t see the problem. Money is the biggest motivator for people, so taxing energy usage would get people to use less and/or look into more efficient usage.
7. Robb Henshaw | 02.13.09
With PowerMeter, Google is validating the valuable role of energy monitoring in empowering end users with the information they need to take control of their personal energy consumption. I work with Fat Spaniel Technologies (www.fatspaniel.com), and we absolutely support Google’s stated principle that “open protocols and standards should serve as the cornerstone of smart grid projects” (from their blog). Last year we announced the industry’s first open energy monitoring solution – the Fat Spaniel Insight Platform™. We believe that in order to provide users with a complete energy solution, it must be an open platform that can monitor all devices and systems and distill the data into usable information. As such, Fat Spaniel will extend its open, standardized interface to Google’s PowerMeter once it is publicly released. We currently provide the monitoring technology for more than 2,000 renewable energy plants across 17 countries today, and we think that Google’s validation of the energy monitoring market will help spread the technology for adoption across all energy systems universally.
8. Gordon | 02.18.09
Ben Franklin didn’t have a Social Security number and a credit report.
If you want privacy, you better get off the Internet and find an island somewhere. Google knows it has a lot of power, but so does Obama. I guess that’s why our money says “In God We Trust”.
9. OMG | 11.21.09
Robb H. and Dan R, you are scary.
Our concern is not that Google and the gobment are in league, just that Google is taking advantage of a stupid government policy, which in turn furthers the policy, which the gobment further expolits.
Have you considered that no matter how willing you you are to be a good citizen, and embrace this technology, the government will be able to turn your power off when they want? Or charge you what they want, when they want? This is not about ecology, this is about control, and you are giving up another slice of your control over yourself.
10. OMG | 11.21.09
If you’re so concerned about the environment, truly do something to preserve our quality of life: Control immigration and we’ll have 20 million less users. But then the government has 20 million fewer consumers.
Do you see how we are being taken advantage of?
11. Mikey | 11.22.09
I was forced to take a smart meter, and our bill went up in the following months, this is a huge scam on so many levels.
I don’t care what the PUC thinks, I do my part to conserve, and I don’t need or want them to see what I’m doing with the power I pay for.
Andrew Tang of PG&E said “we don’t believe in manditory programs. We think you can create the right behavior through economic incentives”
Can you say “Penalties”?
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2. Empowering power consumers: Google beta tests software to give consumers real-time info - TT`s Lost in Tokyo | 02.17.09
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1. Jimbodidley | 02.10.09
“But in a world where everyone had a detailed understanding of their home energy use we could find all sorts of ways to save energy and lower electricity bills.”, especially, and including, Google, Inc., who would no doubt profit handsomely by targeting you with advertisements for new, energy efficient, widgets.
Why does everyone seem to explicitly trust Google? Why in the world would you want an untrusted third-party to accumulate and aggregate this information about your personal habits? On some other planet, in some alien language, “Google” translates to “Big Brother”!
I just don’t “get” all this trust in Google!
To paraphrase Benjamin Franklin, “Those who would sacrifice privacy for efficiency deserve neither.”