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Posts Tagged ‘smart meters’

Australians can now reduce energy use with Google PowerMeter

Tuesday, May 25th, 2010

SmartNow Media Release

Thanks to a major new initiative launched by Google and Current Cost, the leading global manufacturer of real-time displays (RTDs), householders will now be able to sign-up to Google PowerMeter, a free online tool that connects to Current Cost devices, enabling users to receive real-time energy information on their customised Google homepage, wherever they are.

“This is a great opportunity for Australians to take control of their bills and stop wasting money on electricity they do not need,” says Ian Ballantyne, Technical Director of SmartNow, the Australasian distributor for Current Cost.

“Without real-time information, trying to reduce a power bill is like trying to reduce a monthly grocery bill without knowing any prices. With the real-time information from Google PowerMeter and a Current Cost ENVI, The Graham restaurant in Port Melbourne discovered that leaving the coffee machines on overnight was costing up to $3000 a year.”

“As a result of our landmark agreement with Google, users now have immediate and flexible access to information that will enable them to change their energy habits,” says Current Cost Managing Director, Martin Dix.

“Both parties are very excited about the new partnership which aims to empower people to cut energy wastage, minimise costs and reduce their carbon footprint.”

The ability to offer customers total flexibility with bespoke products has always been a key focus for Current Cost. Now, its preferred partner collaboration with Google will allow real-time data on how much energy is being consumed in the home to be sent directly to the Google PowerMeter.

This free software tool then visualises the information for users to view on their own iGoogle homepage, a personal web portal which enables individuals to create and access a wide range of customisable information, web feeds and Google Gadgets.

Current Cost’s engaging and interactive devices are already being used by well over a million domestic users globally. Leading the battle against energy waste and improving domestic energy efficiency as a whole remains a top priority for the technology specialist, reinforcing campaigns by the UK Government and associated bodies such as Act on CO2 and 10:10 that have also put the spotlight on reducing domestic energy wastage in the UK.

“As individuals, we all have a part to play in reducing our impact on the environment – and we can make a real difference,” says Dix. “In the area of reducing domestic energy wastage in particular, Google and Current Cost are providing the tools and information to do the job.”

Current Cost real-time displays, including the class-leading ENVI, are available from SmartNow.

Thanks to a major new initiative launched by Google and Current Cost, the leading global
manufacturer of real-time displays (RTDs), householders will now be able to sign-up to Google
PowerMeter, a free online tool that connects to Current Cost devices, enabling users to receive
real-time energy information on their customised Google homepage, wherever they are.
“This is a great opportunity for Australians to take control of their bills and stop wasting money on
electricity they do not need,” says Ian Ballantyne, Technical Director of SmartNow, the
Australasian distributor for Current Cost.
“Without real-time information, trying to reduce a power bill is like trying to reduce a monthly
grocery bill without knowing any prices. With the real-time information from Google PowerMeter
and a Current Cost ENVI, The Graham restaurant in Port Melbourne discovered that leaving the
coffee machines on overnight was costing up to $3000 a year.”
“As a result of our landmark agreement with Google, users now have immediate and flexible
access to information that will enable them to change their energy habits,” says Current Cost
Managing Director, Martin Dix.
“Both parties are very excited about the new partnership which aims to empower people to cut
energy wastage, minimise costs and reduce their carbon footprint.”
The ability to offer customers total flexibility with bespoke products has always been a key focus
for Current Cost. Now, its preferred partner collaboration with Google will allow real-time data on
how much energy is being consumed in the home to be sent directly to the Google PowerMeter.
Current Cost/Google PowerMeter
This free software tool then visualises the information for users to view on their own iGoogle
homepage, a personal web portal which enables individuals to create and access a wide range of
customisable information, web feeds and Google Gadgets.
Current Cost’s engaging and interactive devices are already being used by well over a million
domestic users globally. Leading the battle against energy waste and improving domestic energy
efficiency as a whole remains a top priority for the technology specialist, reinforcing campaigns by
the UK Government and associated bodies such as Act on CO2 and 10:10 that have also put the
spotlight on reducing domestic energy wastage in the UK.
“As individuals, we all have a part to play in reducing our impact on the environment – and we can
make a real difference,” says Dix. “In the area of reducing domestic energy wastage in particular,
Google and Current Cost are providing the tools and information to do the job.”
Current Cost real-time displays, including the class-leading ENVI, are available from SmartNow.
For more information on the Google PowerMeter and to order the Current Cost ENVI real-time
display log on to www.SmartNow.com.au
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Victorian smart meter roll-out on hold

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010

Following a meeting with the Consumer Utilities Advocacy Centre (CUAC), Victorian Council of Social Service (VCOSS) and St Vincent de Paul, the Energy and Resources Minister, Peter Batchelor, announced that the electricity smart meter roll-out to all Victorian households would be put on hold indefinitely, effective immediately.

The so-called moratorium was agreed to permit better consideration of the likely impacts of time-of-use charging on consumers, especially those at the lower end of the socio-economic scale.

As we have previously argued in this blog, we are skeptical that the claimed benefits of smart meters are achievable in practice. The Government’s mandated roll-out will add significant cost and complexity to the electricity industry, which will ultimately result in higher power bills for consumers.

We also agree with the argument put forward by CUAC, VCOSS and St Vincent de Paul that many less well off families and pensioners, who often spend a great deal of time at home, would have limited opportunity to change their energy consumption behaviour and as a result would be stung by significantly higher daytime (peak) electricity pricing under a time-of-use regime.

However, we also understand that wholesale costs for electricity retailers can often be significantly higher during peak times, so there needs to be a mechanism to pass on the real cost of the power being consumed. We saw the negative impact on the industry of fixed prices last year when Jackgreen went into administration as a result of the high spot prices it had to pay for the excess power used by its NSW customers during the summer heatwave.

The optimal solution to reducing peak demand would probably be to let the market set time-of-day prices that reasonably reflect cost and for the Government to introduce additional welfare payments to needy households to offset the higher energy bills they will face. This would incentivise households to use energy more wisely but also protect those least able to change behaviour.

You can read the Minister’s media release on The Premier of Victoria website.

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Google gains approval to sell power in the US

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

The United States Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has given Google the green light to sell electricity and related services in the US. You might rightly wonder why Google would want to get into the power business and act as a utility – you think they would have better ways to make money.

Google says it wants to make itself carbon-neutral. Given the large number of data centres it operates, with probably thousands of servers in each, one could imagine the grand scale of Google’s electricity consumption. According to Google’s official blog, Google’s engineers did some analysis and found that an average Google search query consumes “about 1 kilojoule of energy and emits about 0.2 grams of carbon dioxide”. Obviously each search is tiny in isolation but multiply this figure by the billions of searches that it handles and it is clearly a big deal.

FERC’s approval gives Google the right to install as many solar panels as it likes in its quest to achieve carbon-neutrality. It also means that should Google generate lots of surplus solar power it could effectively resell this on the market; in other words Google could become a solar power generator and a net contributor to the electricity grid.

Google is already involved in energy in many ways, with applications like Google PowerMeter to assist consumers better manage their household energy consumption directly from their iGoogle homepage. Google has already signed up ten utility companies in North America and Europe to allow smart meters in their customers’ homes communicate with PowerMeter. There are also a couple of companies such as AlertMe in the UK selling self-install power management devices that are pre-configured to work with Google PowerMeter.

However, Google’s motives might not be entirely altruistic in helping the world use less energy; there is no doubt an excellent opportunity for Google to position itself as a large scale provider of energy management services to consumers and businesses around the world.

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