From joule-counting energy jars to twittering power monitors we’ve got power meters on the brain as of late, what with the upcoming Greener Gadgets Conference and Design Competition. Proving that great minds really do think alike, we’re excited to hear that Google is getting into the energy-saving act with their recently debuted PowerMeter. The application will collect information from utility meters and energy monitors and provide easy access to energy statistics right from your iGoogle homepage.
With the global energy crisis mounting and energy efficiency on everybody’s minds, we’re presented with a conundrum – how can we start saving energy if we can’t quantify our current consumption? Fortunately there’s a variety of products out there that will monitor your household energy use, and now Google’s new PowerMeter offers a powerful way to track, analyze, and make sense of the data. The web-based application will provide real-time data on energy use, making it easy to track energy-saving behavior. You can even share data to strike up a bit of healthy competition among your friends and neighbors.
The new service will be rolling out over the next few months, although Google has not teamed up with any hardware manufacturers as of yet.
The idea is great and will certainly work. But what I do not like is that Google knows everyting about you at the end. What do you search, read, where do you live, your work, where you go on vacation, who do you call, send mail, and now also where you are at the present time.
There are plenty of options for viewing and mapping your energy. Without the intervention of your energy supplier our Google.
Why not improve your entire view of consumption such as gas, water and electricity.
Without the interference of Google and energy companies using the information for their own purpose.
Soon, Google becomes the energy supplier?