I bought a TED 5000 unit about 6 weeks ago. Largely it works as advertised though I have had some issues with the graphs locking up Internet Explorer (which happens on my PC on other things too) and about 2X/week having the readings get stuck. The Google tie-in should be great IF they are storing granular data (like in 1 minute intervals). If they are just keeping hourly or daily - not so much if you are trying to use this to identify areas of electrical waste in your home.
The downfall of this approach is in the name: Energy Detective. You have to do some detective work to actually figure out what is causing any particular activity you see on the device. That might be walking around turning things on and off, but more likely the true culprits are harder to find and coming on when you don't even know about them. You CAN wire this to an individual breaker, but that involves getting BACK into the electrical panel - something most people are not too comfortable with. I'm pretty handy and had no problems with it, and have already identified a couple things that will pay for the device in the next year. Studies show that just being aware of your usage on a regular basis saves most people 10-15% - so do your own math.
I think the bottom line is that this is not an ideal solution for making your home energy efficient. But it is probably the best thing current available to the average person short of spending a lot of $$ to have a pro come in and do things for you.
The Chromebooks are here, starting with Samsung's Series 5, a cute little number that promises instant-on access, 3G connectivity, and long enough battery life to web surf with the best of 'em.
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I bought a TED 5000 unit about 6 weeks ago. Largely it works as advertised though I have had some issues with the graphs locking up Internet Explorer (which happens on my PC on other things too) and about 2X/week having the readings get stuck. The Google tie-in should be great IF they are storing granular data (like in 1 minute intervals). If they are just keeping hourly or daily - not so much if you are trying to use this to identify areas of electrical waste in your home.
The downfall of this approach is in the name: Energy Detective. You have to do some detective work to actually figure out what is causing any particular activity you see on the device. That might be walking around turning things on and off, but more likely the true culprits are harder to find and coming on when you don't even know about them. You CAN wire this to an individual breaker, but that involves getting BACK into the electrical panel - something most people are not too comfortable with. I'm pretty handy and had no problems with it, and have already identified a couple things that will pay for the device in the next year. Studies show that just being aware of your usage on a regular basis saves most people 10-15% - so do your own math.
I think the bottom line is that this is not an ideal solution for making your home energy efficient. But it is probably the best thing current available to the average person short of spending a lot of $$ to have a pro come in and do things for you.