Google PowerMeter is a software application being developed by Google's philanthropic arm, Google.org to help consumers track their home electricity usage.The development of the software is part of an effort by Google to invest in renewable energy, electricity grid upgrades and other measures that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Google on October 05, 2009, announced the launch software tool, Google PowerMeter, which easily allows you to see personal home energy data.

Google PowerMeter combined with TED 5000 (TED stands for "The Energy Detective") from Energy Inc., which is an energy monitor that measures electricity usage in real-time, can help you understand your electricity usage to save energy and money. The device as of now, available only in North America. ^{[2] [3]}

The software will be able to record the user's electricity usage in near real-time. Users would be able to track their electricity and gas use through a chart, and access that information from a widget on their iGoogle home page. It is hoped that this tool will raise the home-owner's awareness of how much energy they use and make users more energy efficient.According to the company, if half of America's homes' energy use was cut by ten percent, it would equal taking eight million cars off the road.

PowerMeter depends on the use of a smart meter which is able to track electricity usage much more accurately than standard electric meters. According to Google, there are approximately 40 million smart meters in use worldwide. By early 2009, approximately 7% of US homes had a smart meter installed

A home energy monitor provides prompt, convenient feedback on electrical or other energy use. Devices may also display cost of energy used, and estimates of greenhouse gas emissions. Various studies have shown a reduction in home energy use of 4-15% through use of home energy display.^[1] Electricity use may be measured with an inductive clamp placed around the electric main, via the electric meter (either through an optical port, or by sensing the meters actions), by communicating with a smart meter, or by direct connection to the electrical system. The display portion is remote from the measurement, communicating with the sensor using a cable, power line communications, or using radio. Online displays are also available which allow the user to display near real-time consumption on any device that can connect to the Internet.

A possible means to reduce household energy consumption is to provide real-time feedback to homeowners so they can change their energy using behavior. Recently, low-cost energy feedback displays, such as The Energy Detective, Eco-eye, wattson,, PowerCost Monitor, PowerWatch, Cent-a-meter, Silk or Flukso have become available.

A study using the PowerCost Monitor deployed in 500 Ontario homes by Hydro One showed an average 6.5% drop in total electricity use when compared with a similarly sized control group. Hydro One subsequently offered free power monitors to 30,000 customers based on the success of the pilot.[8]Blue Line Innovations also indicates 100,000 units in the market today

Microsoft Hohm

 is an online web application by Microsoft that enables consumers to analyze their energy usage and provides energy saving recommendations.

Announced on June 24, 2009, Microsoft Hohm is built on the Windows Azure cloud operating system. It was publicly released on July 6, 2009.

Saving electricity is a subject that is on everyone's minds in recent months. Knowing how much electricity a household or business uses is the first step to curb excessive usage in the home or business office. This leaves the very important question; can the Wattson Energy Monitor help me and my family or business save electricity and keep costs down? One thing is for certain, the electric monitor is excellent at determining and displaying energy usage, so one could only assume that knowing this information could effectively reduce energy consumption. The theory of using the monitor as a way of reducing energy consists of making an eye brain connection; essentially, the extent to which electricity is being used in the home is seen, the brain takes notice and the user of the monitor can actively reduce usage. This is accomplished by the Wattson monitor's ability to show the total amount of electricity used on a LED display using mood lights, which are colour coded depending on how much energy is used. The monitor then displays the total amount in either a wattage or in £ value, which ever the user prefers. Studies show that consumers who can see exactly how much they will spend on their electricity bill typically consume less energy overall so seeing the actual £ amount would typically be a better deterrent to high energy consumption. Using the sensor and attaching it to any basic home or office electricity meter of 240V, 415V single or 3 phase in the UK is simple and can be performed by almost anyone. Then, using real-time data transmitted over a wireless connection, the monitor displays the information on the LED display and using "mood lights," which use the colours blue and red. The colour blue means low energy consumption and red means high-energy consumption. Additionally, there are varying shades of these colours, which are what tells the user how much energy is being consumed at any given moment. This display is easily positioned anywhere in the home or business office because it can be used up to 100 meters away from the sensor. The Wattson can even be used through walls for up to 30 meters away from the sensor. The basic premise is that if a person sees and understands how much energy they are using, that person will use less. It is when people in homes do not see the consumption or energy use patterns until the bill comes that they oftentimes use more and more while thinking they are using less. A Wattson energy monitor has proven to reduce a typical consumer's monthly energy usage by 20 per cent, which many say is not a lot. However, given the constant rising price of electricity to twice or three times the historic rates, this 20 per cent can make the difference between an electric bill that is affordable and a family having their electricity shut off for consistent non-payment because that family had no idea how much energy they were consuming.

The Energy Detective, also known as TED, is an energy demand feedback device that promotes energy conservation by making residential consumers aware of how much electrical energy is being used in their homes.

Essentially, TED is no different from the utility company energy meter on the outside of a residence, but it is displayed indoors at a place where it can be more conveniently read, and displays some extra information of interest to a consumer. The device comes in two parts - an electromagnetic transducer that sits at the power mains to measure the total power usage and transmits it over the power wiring, and a receiver device that receives the signal and displays it to the user.

TED tracks kilowatt-hours, and optionally computes cents per hour and estimates the month's electric bill.

TED's transmitter only transmits its signal over a single phase of household wiring. Most houses have two incoming phases divided evenly throughout the house. TED's receiver usually can only receive if it's plugged into an outlet on the same phase as its transmitter. A phase bridge, such as one compatible with X10 home automation equipment, can overcome this limitation. Despite TED's ability to only transmit over a single phase, it does include the necessary equipment to properly measure power usage on both phases.

One research project by the Florida Solar Energy Center has successfully used the device to develop a protocol which can be used to inventory the electrical demand of all household appliances. This same research has installed the device in twenty households with the intention of evaluating pre/post household behavior after a year of having the device available. Research results will be available in early 2008^[2].

The TED receiver displays power measurements with a resolution of 10 watts, and updates every 1 second. The actual measurement hardware in TED may have a higher resolution, with a granularity as low as 1 watt^[3]. All data is stored in nonvolatile memory, so there is no data loss on power outage.

On June 30, 2009 the TED 5000 was released. The 5000 model is an upgrade to the TED 1000 and has several enhancements including:

• Web based software.
• A wireless display unit.
• Up to 10 years worth of memory storage.
• Ability to transmit data over both phases (eliminating the need for phase bridges).
• Improved sensors with a 1-watt resolution.
• Easily exportable data.
• More advanced graphing and historical options