Energy Monitoring: TED 5000 and Google Power meter
I first wrote about the TED 5000 when I installed mine in July 2009. While there are many energy monitoring tools on the market, I am convinced the TED (The Energy Detective) made by Energy, Inc. is one of the best devices for residential consumers. Their new model, the TED 5000 was just picked by Google to be the first device partnership for the Google Power Meter software, so this is a huge vote in confidence in their product and I think validates my opinion.
So why do you need an energy monitor?
Well, you don’t, as long as you are happy just getting the bill from your utility each month. But if you actually want to take a proactive stance regarding reducing your energy consumption then you should consider getting an energy monitor. Studies have shown that an average reduction of 10% is realized just by monitoring energy.
There are two types of energy monitors: appliance level or whole home monitors. Appliance monitors, like the Kill-A-Watt, just measure individual outlets. You plug the appliance monitor into an outlet, then plug your appliance into the monitor. The advantage of these is that they are low-cost ($20-$30). The disadvantage is that they can only measure one appliance at a time (or multiple appliances if you use a Kill-A-Watt strip), but they can’t measure the big loads in your home (like your dryer or AC units) or your whole home’s energy consumption (like the meter that the utility installs on your house).
A whole home energy monitor does just that. It is like the meter your utility installed on your house, but unless your utility has already installed a smart meter, you still have to get your home’s energy usage the old fashioned way: by going outside and reading it yourself or waiting for your utility to bill you. A whole home energy monitor, like the TED 5000, can tell you your home’s instantaneous energy consumption either with computer software or a display unit, or both. The TED 5000 can come with a display unit, but since it will now come with the Google Power Meter software I’m sure more people will rely on that.
What is the advantage of having instantaneous data and computer software?
A whole home energy monitor that stores instantaneous data and comes with computer software (the TED 5000 does) enables you to keep a record of your home’s consumption habits and plot it on a graph. This enables you to see how your home uses energy in a very detailed manner. If you are just relying on your utility, you can probably only see month-to-month history, but this doesn’t help you see how much energy your home used while you were away over the weekend (should be very little, but was it?) or notice the fact that energy use keeps spiking in the middle of the night and you aren’t awake to check a display (was a faulty pool pump at 3 A.M. the guilty party?).
Only by drilling down into your energy consumption can you really begin to understand how your home uses electricity. Once you understand this, you can really begin to take the steps necessary to reduce it. While whole home energy monitors may be more expensive (around $200) than appliance monitors, the amount of data they provide on your home’s consumption habits make them a much better investment over the life of your home.
Chris Kaiser is founder of Mapawatt Blog which focuses on reducing energy and water consumption and sustainable ideas.
