people-powered

PowerCost Monitor fills out with People Power app

The maker of the PowerCost Monitor, seeking alternatives to discontinued energy-monitoring applications from Microsoft and Google, today said that its home electricity monitor will work with People Power's software.

People Power's Android and iPhone app, which is available this month, brings a few more features to the PowerCost Monitor's real-time electricity reading, including the ability to set up a monthly energy budget, get energy efficiency recommendations, and compare electricity use to others. It can also get electricity rate data from utilities which have variable prices based on the time of day.

Over the past few weeks, Microsoft and Google attracted interest to home energy technology by announcing plans to retire their respective applications, Google PowerMeter and Microsoft Hohm. Both companies said they didn't get the customer uptake they were hoping for.

Utilities are one channel for bringing energy monitoring to market but a handful of companies are selling directly to consumers with products that use home broadband connections, rather than a two-way smart meter, to get data online.

The deal between BlueLine Innovations, which makes the PowerCost Monitor, and People Power hinges on a Wi-Fi gateway that transmits electricity meter information over the Internet to People Power's application. BlueLine Innovations makes an optical sensor that attaches onto a meter to read data. It then sends data to a handheld device that shows near real-time electricity use and the Wi-Fi gateway. The monitor hardware and optical sensor, sold online or at Lowe's, cost about $100 and the Internet gateway costs an additional $159.

Another company that is using a gateway and home broadband to get data online is WattVision, which also makes an optical sensor and Wi-Fi gateway priced at $249. Consumers can view information through a Web application.

The idea behind real-time electricity monitoring is that people will get more insight into how they power their homes and find ways to conserve. In addition to finding ways to save money, people can simply get a better idea of energy usage before a monthly bill arrives.

Meter sensors with a Wi-Fi gateway are attractive to consumers who want more control over energy but don't have smart meters. To get more detailed energy usage, some energy monitors use sensors that clamp onto the individual circuits going into a circuit box. Another promising technology that will provide more detail are sensors that can recognize the electronic "signature" of large power consumers, such as large appliances or air conditioners. … Read more

People Power rides 'Internet of things' to smart grid

The best path to energy-efficient electronics is connecting them to the Internet, according to People Power.

The Silicon Valley-based company today launched a system that uses embedded networking chips and Internet software, called the Energy Services Platform, to monitor and control plugged-in devices for better efficiency. It says it's working with some business partners and expects its products to be available in the first quarter of next year.

There are dozens of companies seeking to reduce waste in electronics with energy monitoring and control technologies, with many developing home energy management systems made available through utilities.

People Power, by … Read more

Moo.com to open U.S. operations center

"Yay."

That's one of the colorful and energetic buzzwords that Moo.com, a U.K. company mostly known for its whimsical user-generated business cards, has used to get people excited about its products.

And now, it might well be the grateful word coming out of the mouths of its American customers--who make up about half of the company's sales--because Moo.com has finally decided to open a U.S. operations center.

Until now, those of us on the western side of the Atlantic ordering Moo cards, as they're known, have had to wait, sometimes for … Read more

SXSWi: Learning the lessons of 'people-powered' companies

AUSTIN, Texas--Why invent the wheel by yourself if you can turn instead to a group of peers and solve it together?

That was the premise of a gathering here of executives from most of the leading companies in what might be called the "people-powered" industry.

These are companies like CafePress, Moo, Etsy, and 8020 Publishing whose business is manufacturing physical products designed by customers. CafePress, for example, makes T-shirts, coffee mugs, hats, and many other products emblazoned with logos and designs uploaded by users. Moo makes business and greeting cards adorned with users' own photos and images, and 8020 publishes photo and travel magazines full of readers' work.

But each of these outfits has until now had to solve a set of problems unique to this nascent industry--legal issues, community management processes, and even questions of nomenclature.

So as many of the people behind these companies prepared to go to Austin for this year's South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) festival, Moo CEO Richard Moross decided that maybe this would be a good time and place to get everyone together and discuss whether a cooperative investigation and search for solutions to common problems would be a good thing for everyone involved.

After all, there's strength in numbers, right?