Will consumers plug into home energy displays?

Dozens of home energy monitors are coming to market, but nobody knows whether only hybrid Prius owners will use them.

Whole home energy monitors, or displays, are designed to help consumers conserve energy by providing far more detailed information than a monthly bill. These types of devices are already available, but millions more are poised to enter U.S. homes in the next two years, largely through utility-run smart grid programs.

Home energy displays show you the juice (photos)

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The gadgets themselves vary, but the common thread among them is the ability to capture a stream of energy information from a meter at a given moment. Simply by surfacing real-time data, either with a small device or Web software, it's believed the system will prompt people to change their habits and ratchet down consumption by 5 percent to 15 percent, according to studies (PDF).

But even as more sophisticated and user-friendly products come to market, it's unclear whether consumers will track energy use regularly, particularly once the novelty wears off.

"Not everybody is an energy nerd yet," said David Schatsky, principal at consulting company GreenResearch. "While people who study this area are aware of the energy space, the average consumer is not."

Schatsky recently completed a study on home energy displays and concluded that they won't likely be a hot holiday season gift anytime soon. In the next two to three years, he projects there will be millions of these devices installed, with the numbers ramping up to tens of millions after that. Existing displays cost roughly $100 to $200 but Schatsky expects that many consumers will initially receive them for free from utilities as part of smart-grid programs.

In a survey, he found that about half of consumers said they were interested in tools to lower home energy bills. But in reality, the percentage of people who will actively manage their energy is probably much less. There are also technical hurdles to making these devices provide real-time information and useful recommendations.

As a result, he expects that energy-efficiency programs run by utilities in the next few years will drive adoption and provide some lessons on what resonates with consumers and not. As part of the multibillion dollar smart-grid grant program announced last month, about one million consumers will get in-home displays from utilities looking to lower consumers' energy consumption in smart-grid programs. Those programs are expected to get off the ground in the next few months.

Motivating consumers
The drive behind smart-grid technologies is to enable the grid to use electricity more efficiently, integrate more solar and wind power, and potentially eliminate the need to build new power plants to meet growing demand.

Countries around the world are investing to upgrade their grids, but there's a gnawing concern in the U.S. that consumers aren't sold on the benefits. Home energy displays are supposed to be one of the ways that utilities can help consumers save money and lighten their environment footprint.

At their most simple, a whole-house energy monitor shows what's happening on an electricity meter and translates that into cost and kilowatt-hours. For example, seeing that a home's current electricity use is higher than typical could lead a person to unplug a video game console or turn off lights. More sophisticated devices can provide information on how much individual appliances use and generate statistics.

When used as part of smart meter rollout, these devices can be a gateway for energy-efficiency services offered by a utility, such as demand response. For instance, a monitor can employ a color system where red indicates that the electricity rate has gone up because it's a time of peak demand.

The Web is a natural extension to these energy gadgets. Google's PowerMeter is being offered through utilities that install smart meters, which feed real-time energy use to the Web-based monitoring application. But Google is starting to offer PowerMeter through other devices, including a small monitor called the TED 5000.

The information and displays are meant to not only inform consumers but to motivate them to be more efficient. In order for that to work, the devices need to be simple to install and useful just at a glance, say monitor makers.

"There's all this talk about the smart grid, but if customers don't participate, it will be a bust," said Paul Nagel, the vice president of strategic development at home automation start-up Control4. "If they don't engage, then they'll never get energy savings."

Home area networks
One of the challenges that all energy display companies face is the technical barriers to getting them installed. The most sophisticated system would use a home-area network built around a smart meter and a network of Zigbee-enabled appliances and thermostat. But even with big investments in the smart grid, millions of homes still won't have smart meters.

Energy management companies are developing alternatives for getting data regularly from the meter to a display. Bridge devices can read meter information using the automatic meter reading (AMR) protocol, which is already available in millions of meters. Another approach is to clamp sensors onto a circuit box to get data or to install "smart plugs," which transmit data from appliances.

Even if a consumer is willing to navigate these technical issues, there is the question of whether the device will provide energy savings over time.

New home energy management companies are focusing on doing more than just monitor data because they are worried about what's called "mean time to kitchen drawer." That is, a person may have a small display on a kitchen counter as a reminder about energy use. But when the batteries run out, will they simply stash it in a kitchen drawer and forget about it?

Companies are now building in data analytics to provide recommendations or to automatically control appliances to ratchet down energy use. EcoFactor, for example, is developing a hosted software application that can analyze data from wireless thermostats and make changes to make the home more efficient.

Control4, a company which does touch-screen displays to manage video and music in a home, is now branching into energy management. Its EMS 100 device, which runs Linux on an Arm 9 processor, is powerful enough to analyze daily information to provide recommendations on how consumers can make changes to save energy, said Nagel. The company plans to offer it through utilities starting in the first quarter of next year.

Energy management services could be bundled with other home-automation products or even cable and telecom services. iControl and AlertMe in the U.K. plan to bundle security services with tools to manage heating, cooling, and lighting.

One way that utilities and energy management companies expect to motivate consumers is by comparing one home's usage to neighbors in comparably sized homes. Start-up Grounded Power is using social science techniques already proven with recycling and seat belt programs to encourage consumers to save energy, said Mike Bukhin, the vice president of engineering.

"Our users are taking snapshots of data subsets and comparing their data to others' in the community. 'How does my fridge compare to yours?' They also have the ability to ask resident experts questions about their data. The data in turn is shared with the rest of the community," he said.

Home energy displays show you the juice (photos)

[solitare_pax]

The main problem seems to be that there must be millions of houses out there with wiring that would be considered substandard by today's standards. How will those places be able to utilize this meter if they are still using fuses and have only 2 prong outlets?

[tomharrisonjr]

Solitaire_pax -- one kind attach to the electric meter itself (and read even the old style spinning dial). Others have spring-loaded clamps that go around the incoming feed line. Both will work with old or new wiring.

[disneybob]

The utilities could prive a smart phone app that ties into the meter. That way no matter where you are you can see your energy usage. This would also avoid the "mean time to kitchen drawer." (I lol at this expression!)

[gthurman]

My 5 year old auto thermostat draws power from the AC unit; doesn't need batteries It would make sense to replace the $80 unit with a monitoring system that is already centrally located. They could add Bluetooth or ZigBee to gather data from sensors around the home. Make it convenient by sending the data to a widget running on my AT&T U-Verse system. If the ZigBee sensor manufacturers would abandon turning 'open' ZigBee devices into proprietary connections, we cellular developers could implement this quick and easy.

[G2001]

A standard should be set to transmit data from each outlet in a home. Competing companies can design the transmitters, the receivers and the software. The software can then offer graphs showing usage and make recommendations to lower energy consumption. This really is a no-brainer. <br /> <br />How else are you going to be able to monitor the refrigerator, an entertainment center, washer/dryers, etc.?

Seriously? What electrical appliance can we 'do with out'? Are people going to turn their fridge off for a few hours a day? The only people that are going to buy this junk are people already watching every watt they consume. Mainly so they can literally 'watch' the watts they aren't using. The guy with every light on in the house and TVs in every room 'on'.... He obviously doesn't care and if he did... All he really would need to do would be the obvious; Turn some crap off. This equipment really just kind of serves to be an ego stroke for the environmental nutjobs... like cruising around in their Prius, just so they can be seen in a Prius, and feel all smug and superior to everyone else for being "environmentally conscience".

[mlamonica]

If anyone has experience using a whole house monitor, please write in. There's a lot of research that indicates that simply raising awareness of energy use will prompt people to conserve more. <br /><br />Companies are adding additional features, too, so you could program your thermostat, turn off stand-by power in the entertainment center at night, take advantage of off-peak rates, etc.

[guest18934367]

People leave appliances on when they're not using them all the time and deal with phantom power. These gadgets will help people to see exactly which of their appliances are using the most energy...maybe they'll just save on those and not everything. Obviously you're not going to turn your refrigerator off, but maybe your game consoles and computer don't need to be plugged in 24/7. The point of these gadgets is to help people who DON'T realize "the obvious" and to see exactly how much money they're losing when they do certain things. I find it funny how you call others "smug and superior" when I find it almost impossible to make your post more arrogant than it already is.

[bmccorm2]

I agree whole heartedly with Martin. I recentely purchased a Honda Civic Hybrid and by in large the best thing Honda has done for the environment is not putting a battery pack in the car to assist with acceleration; it is putting an instantaneous MPG meter in the dash and by providing constant feedback to what your actual mileage is. I like protecting the environment whenever i can, but, not to sound selfish, i like saving myself money even more :) So i have definitely conserved more gas simply by being aware of the gas i was currently using (note: i don't need to hear from the people who advocate stop driving altogether. This, by in large, is not an option for me). I will definitely be in the market for these types of devices.

[Frogman800]

sounds about right

[tomharrisonjr]

No doubt, some people will not give a darn about how much electricity they use.<br /><br />But I have been using a power monitor for several years now -- before then I had no idea how much electricity I was using, really. Now I do.<br /><br />See my regular comment below -- these things work not because you turn off your fridge, but because it's surprising (amazing to me) how much stuff that wasn't actually being used was adding to our bill. I don't think any of the changes we have made have lowered the quality of our life -- they're mostly just simple habits -- simple, like turning out the lights when you leave a room.<br /><br />You cannot under-estimate the amount of electricity we use without it doing anything we care about or want.

[The_Cinderz]

I myself will not get one. I was raised to turn off the light if you aren't using it, turn off the tv when you aren't watching it and so on.

[hutwarmer]

if this was really about conserving electricity than i would be all for it. but lets just admit it, this is another way to make money for utilities. what happens when everyone starts monitoring their power and really starts conserving? the electric co. makes less and their shareholders start screaming. so what do they do? raise rates. those increases negate any savings you gained through managing/monitoring your usage. <br /> <br />this is the same stupid capitalist cat amd mouse game all companies want to play these days. no thanks.

[mlamonica]

There are states that have put in place in regulations that "decouple" how much power a utility sells from their financial returns. In other words, the utility has an incentive for its customers to use less electricity. That's not the case in every state, though.

[Frogman800]

Wrong there hutwarmer. not capitalist, except the making profit part. You like to make a profit for your work too, I am sure, and don't work for a collective so no bagging on the money makers. They pay your salary, right? But not point droning on about that. It is in part backed by corporations, like GE, who stand to make Billions on cap and trade. So will Al Gore. It is money and greed, to be certain, but more it is control. Government and quasi government utility control over you amigo. To use a ridiculous analogy - Jurassic Park: There are the two velociraptors. It is not the one you see in front of you that you have to worry about, though it would happily kill and eat you, but the one that comes in from the side. Government is that one - sneaky girl.

[weegg]

With our apathetic, fat, dumb, lazy, lack of responsibility, society this won't help much.

[G2001]

You are wrong about that. One thing that was not mentioned in the article is deregulation that is occurring. In PA, electricity rates are expected to climb by 30-40% over 2 years. People might be apathetic, fat, dumb and lazy, but these "smart" meters are all for the fat, lazy and dumb people. It does everything for them, except turn the switch off. People WILL change their habits. I would love to see an article like this in twelve months and compare these posts.

[Dragon_Myr]

There is absolutely no reason why we can't build more power plants to meet demand. The global population is increasing. People reproduce -- it's life! Therefore we need more power to satisfy the new people. I really hate it how utilities like BGE float this carrot of a new nuclear power plant out there but then have no intention of ever actually building it. They're concerned about profits first and foremost. Building new power plants is expensive for them, so it's a win for them if they can wiggle out of that. Environmental groups tout a win, the utility can win again by raising rates due to demand, and the consumer loses and gets completely trampled in the process. Energy meters like the ones in the article are only needed because the average Joe is being ignored.<br /><br />When you're not using something, turn it off! It's very simple. I'm shocked by how many people and organizations completely ignore that simple rule. Universities are some of the worst offenders yet some of the loudest smart grid advocates. Don't give me that crap about how computers have to stay on idle all night and all weekend long because of some 3 to 5 minute patch deployed at midnight once or twice a week! There are simple steps that could be done at large organizations today...steps those same organizations are asking regular folks to do while not practicing what they preach. If you're used to leaving your university or work computer/electronics on all the time, do you honestly think that will make someone unplug their home electronics? I don't think so. What you might actually see is people thinking the number is high and then going somewhere else (like a library, coffee shop, or friend's place) to consume their energy....a bad unintended consequence.<br /><br />It will never be enough to satisfy the environmental crowd. It will never be enough to satisfy utilities either since if they're focused making record profits and milking people for every penny (seriously, BGE has an absurd fee just to BECOME a customer). I don't want some Prius driving hippie cutting off my SUV on the highway again, forcing me to use some stupid power meter, and then immediately joining the latest lawsuit to block the construction of a new power plant. We should be focused on building for the future, not rolling back time and progress in favor of artificially-imposed energy restrictions and goofy little meters that you can use to tout your "power level" like some anime-addicted teen.

[narlotta]

When I read a comment like that above (Dragon_Myr) I realize what a bubble I live in here in Silicon Valley. There are actually people out there who believe we should keep growing our population forever and build lots of new power plants and keep buying SUVs. Consume, consume, consume!! It's scary. :) [ I put the smiley face there so everyone realizes this is not a personal attack] <br /> <br />Just heard Al Gore speak the other week at Green Beat - very inspirational. There are three legs to energy policy - new sources, more efficiency and conservation. For conservation I bought a Kill-a-Watt last year and I've measured everything - now I've unplugged the Tivo (it's basically a PC that's on 24/7) and the HDTV is on a switchable strip (it's phantom power is obscene). I'm finally getting my family to think like flinty SOBs (like their dad!) and turn off lights, water, etc. I look forward to when I can collect real-time usage from each individual plug.

[metomjr]

I dunno...If they had a way to monitor each circuit, it could be helpful. It appears some of you may live by yourselves and therefore can turn off the light when you leave the room, But those with families...it could be helpful to know that room A is sucking this much energy...oh kid's not home...they should shut their computer down. Or Rooom B...the kids left the xbox360 on...should go turn it off. <br /> <br />You know? Personally, if I saw an energy meter on my thermostat/central reporting station with real time data/charges, I'd be pretty darn inclined to turn off/unplug stuff I wasn't using. I certainly think about it every time the electric bill comes and go...man that's a lot -should have turned the AC off or put my computer to sleep more often.

[tomharrisonjr]

metomjr -- it appears there is a device to monitor each circuit -- I just saw one on Ask This Old House this weekend!<br /><br />It's called eMonitor and is sold by EnergyCircle. It looks totally cool.

[carlhage]

Personally, these gadgets are an order of magnitude too expensive. Martin, I also would be curious to know actual experiences. Google reports some experiences, but half the cars in the Google parking lot are Prius. :-) Is a real-time display significant, or is a one-time or retrospective analysis adequate? A Kill-A-Watt meter might let you know a coffeemaker pot warmer or cordless phone charger wastes a lot of power, and allows you to make changes, but you don't really need it to run all the time.<br /><br />Why not make a device that straps onto the meter and logs the movement of the wheel, then records onto flash media. The electronics could be built into a thumb drive-- just remove it from the power meter mount, plug into your computer, then you get a nice graph. An assortment of free web-based analysis programs could be used. Combine with a booklet, then market to libraries (or get the power companies to buy it and donate them to libraries and schools). People can check out the loggers from the library, same as a book, use it to analyze usage.<br /><br />But even simpler solutions are possible. My electric bill contains kWh this year and last year, but why not just print a graph showing the last 24 months of usage? The graph could be shown with comparisons against other houses in the neighborhood (or apartment complex). For even better analysis, people could voluntarily indicate the number of adults/teens/children in the household, and maybe some other questions like home-office use. Then comparisons could be made with similar households. I tried using pge.com to show my usage history, but the site is broken, and they don't seem interested in fixing it. I also don't know when the meters are actually read, so the numbers reported might be bogus. But PG&#38;E has all the info, so could make use of it.<br /><br />If time-of-day billing meters are installed, presumably the utility could keep track of daily usage and report that to customers on their bill. Of all the inserts, this would be the most useful.

[libertyforall1776]

What about the privacy concerns?! Read:<br />http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/726528

[Frogman800]

Where do I go with this.<br />1) The general technology is cool, and<br />2) Being energy conscious is fine, but<br />3) It is becoming too 1984 Big Brother with the government and their wish to control everything, including your thermostat, and<br />4) If you are willing to pay for it, you should be able to use all the energy you wish, plus<br />5) The cost to upgrade so these are worthwhile is probably not worth the time or money, so<br />6) You can just turn off the lights in the rooms you are not in, don't run the water while you are washing dishes or brushing your teeth and be sensible. And can you imagine, all for free without government intervention. <br /><br />Now that is cool!

[tomharrisonjr]

The devices the article discusses are entirely private -- Smart Meters are different (the government has nothing to do with them -- and personally, I think the utilities are too dumb to know what to do with the data :-). <br /><br />The meters in this article, install inside your house, and help you know how to be sensible, as you say. You might be surprised at how much you may not know you're using -- I thought I was being far, far more sensible than a typical electricity user, but I ended up finding about 10 things we didn't realize were chowing down our electricity with no benefit whatsoever to us.

[monkeyfurball]

My electric utility in Minneapolis already installed a radio controlled meter on my house that they can use to turn on and off my electric water heater and air conditioner. They do it at peak usage for maybe 15 minutes at a time so they don't have to buy expensive electricity from an independent producer. They can shut down blocks of houses at a time if needed. In exchange for that ability they charge me 4.8 cents per kwh instead of the normal 10.8 cents per kwh. To be honest I can't ever tell when they turn it off, but I am always getting the lower rate, even when they are not controlling it. Sweet. I assume this exact meter could also send a signal to a receiver that would monitor my whole house electricity. It doesn't seem like a difficult thing to me at all. Even my natural gas company has installed a meter they can read electronically via radio I believe. I could even monitor that usage if I wanted, but its probably not necessary because gas is only used by the furnace and the cooking stove and my 2 fireplaces, all of which are only on when they absolutely have to be.

[tomharrisonjr]

These devices work -- I know from personal experience, and from several friends who are not as "energy nerdy" as me.<br /><br />Several years ago, I got the BlueLine PowerCost Monitor (now also sold under the Black and Decker brand). Very recently, I got the TED 5000, which hooks right into Google PowerMeter.<br /><br />Our electrical consumption has gone down -- way down, and what is surprising to me is that it continues to fall, even after several years.<br /><br />After a while, you get to know the patterns of your usage, so you know when something that shouldn't be is turned on. A couple nights ago, before heading off to bed, I saw something was up, and realized the kids had left the TV on. It was using about 120 Watts and would have run for a day if I hadn't noticed.<br /><br />Simply being conscious of usage guides us, gently to make better choices. When we're in the kitchen, we turn on the more efficient lights. When we leave a room we turn off the lights. We found tons of little things -- many things that were always on but proving no value. Over the course of several years, we have reduced our bill by about $100/month.<br /><br />Being aware of usage is similar to knowing the time or temperature. It's just information, and we scan these things before leaving the house or going to bed. It's a simple habit that has saved us several thousand dollars now.

[BuckeyeTrizzd]

I did not know that any of these devices existed.. color me the opposite of an 'environmental nerd' or whatever the non-pc term is nowadays. :P<br /><br />I am going to go and get some of these for my friends and family.. I know it will save a couple of people a few bucks and a couple others a LOt of money. Not to mentiont he impeact it will have on the environment. Kudos on the heads-up Cnet, even if I was a bit late to the party.

[CS1950]

Lets begin with energy savings.I don't want to live in a 0 draft house. Any engineer who thinks this is healthy needs a swift kick in the ass. I have been in houses that stink because of no fresh air. Yes there is a heat exchanger that will reclaim some heat when exhausting air.When you turn on your fans over your stove and bathrooms you cause a negitive pressure in your home. Air leaks in where ever it can.I have found flue gases coming down the chimney and causing sickness and carbon monoxide entering you home.My solution is have a air Quality check of your home after you do all the things to make your home LIVABLE.