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Google to Discontinue PowerMeter Energy Use Display Utility

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Date: Jun 30, 2011

Google PowerMeter

As of September 2011, Google will discontinue PowerMeter. Though not the first of its kind, the PowerMeter platform provides a simple means for energy data monitoring devices to display consumption online.

Acknowledging that the tool was a trailblazer in the energy monitoring market, Google nonetheless said PowerMeter did not get enough users to warrant continuing it.  Google also is terminating its Google Health project, which helped people organize and access their medical information.

An Early Innovator in the Home Energy Display Sector

PowerMeter is not the only open platform for energy use display (for example, Microsoft’s Hohm* offered similar features). Moreover, proprietary data display systems are numerous. However, Google’s offering was an early and active entry into the field. At its launch two years ago, the user-friendly PowerMeter seemed uniquely placed to bring energy consumption data to a mass audience.

PowerMeter is open to any device manufacturer who wishes to use it. Several utilities allow smart meter users to access data with PowerMeter, as do stand-alone energy consumption monitoring devices, like the TED and Current Cost. Given studies suggesting that greater awareness of energy use can result in consumer energy savings of 5% to15%,** PowerMeter was held up as a model of how such data display systems could work (including in a recent Alliance white paper).  

How PowerMeter Works

PowerMeter can  be incorporated into Google’s iGoogle web page, an online dashboard that users can personalize with various utilities and continually updating information of their choosing.

Those using iGoogle as their Internet browser’s home page have ready access to their energy use data. PowerMeter can display data at intervals of as short as ten minutes; allow comparisons week to week and month to month; and compare a day’s usage to projected use, allowing users to essentially compete with their past usage. When users provide their electricity rates, PowerMeter projects annual energy costs. Google backs up PowerMeter’s display with information on ways to save energy in a home.

A Pace-Setter for the Future?

As smart meters and other devices for measuring home energy use proliferate, the need for display methods that are easy to use and understand will become increasingly critical. Google’s PowerMeter presented an early example of a data display system which will no doubt inform the development of future data display projects.

Further resources:

*Update: On June 30, 2011, Microsoft announced that it too would be discontinuing its consumer energy use display platform, Hohm.

** Darby 2006 and 2010, Anderson & White 2009

Google PowerMeter