http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/ Engadget Comments for Powering Google's PowerMeter: testing TED 5000 and AlertMe Energy http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/Dec 8th 2009 12:08PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/
> oh boy, more "save the planet" stuff

Let me guess, you belong to the "drill baby drill" camp.]]>Dec 8th 2009 12:26PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/Nah, just wanting to live my life in peace and not be harassed by politicians who ignore cow farts and volcanic eruptions but tell me my old clunker is killing humanity.]]>Dec 8th 2009 12:37PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/
I'm more interested in the "save the monies" camp.]]>Dec 8th 2009 1:10PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/Dec 8th 2009 12:12PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/
the one i like is this :
http://www.brultech.com/index.html

ECM-1240

as it can do multipul sub breakers as well as the overall.

]]>Dec 8th 2009 12:23PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/Dec 8th 2009 12:23PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/Dec 8th 2009 1:05PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/
If the breaker box is in your apartment, then it will work. WARNING - you can be electrocuted and your first born sold into slavery and your landlord will have kittens!

Anyway, there are four screws that hold the face plate on. Remove those and you can get to the two primary lines that feed your apartment. They are the two huge wires at the top of the box. You don't have to remove any wires, the clamp just opens up and wraps around each of the two fat wires.]]>Dec 8th 2009 1:48PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/
I believe the TED won't work for single phase feeds, which many apartments have (including mine).

But this is a great review I have considered getting the TED for my parents who have solar, I think this review just clinched it just have to make sure their box is 200A or less.]]>Dec 8th 2009 2:26PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/Dec 9th 2009 1:33PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/ Somebody please put AGW and the nancy boys who continue to push this fraud to sleep.

Btw folks....it may blow your mind but we live in a Technology based society. By using more electricity we are forcing companies to expand and likewise adopt more energy generating options.

Surplus electricty = Cheaper Prices


Algorical and the global warming lemmings....go eat a d*ck!
]]>Dec 8th 2009 12:26PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/
I discovered that my refrigerator was cycling way more often than I thought, so I investigated closer and found that the coils underneath were filthy. I cleaned those out, and cut the consumption of that appliance by half, and arguably greatly extended that appliance's life.

I also discovered that I had left a thermostat on in my shop which was needlessly cycling the heat in an unoccupied building. That saved about $2 a day in electricity.

At the office, I would have never guessed that the single water cooler/heater used more energy than 3 multifunction copiers combined and more than our 50 gallon water heater. Getting rid of 2 of those resulted in the reduction of 20 kWh a day, which is 2/3rds of a residential home's daily power consumption.

You can rant all you want about global warming, but devices like this offer real value by giving you very useful information. For me, it's already paid for itself. Why force the utilities to burn more coal, when it's much easier to eliminate needless waste?]]>Dec 8th 2009 12:38PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/
The one point I take some issue with is on whether to get the TED wireless display or not. Yes, it reduces the cost by $40. But with our TED we've discovered that the omni-presence of our electricity use, in a prominent location in your residence, is of huge value. Of course, this can be achieved with a computer open to either Footprints or Google PowerMeter, but even in a laptop ridden household like ours, these are not always visible. Think about your own behavior to make this decision. I wrote about choosing the right data display for your own lifestyle in this post:

http://www.energycircle.com/blog/2009/12/02/review-choosing-ted-5000-data-display-option-will-work-you

On the question of payback, we're currently at just shy of $300 in savings since starting our @EnergyCircleKW monitoring project last Earth Day. That's primarily been achieved through awareness. And we're a relatively low electricity user (3 BR house with oil heat and have no AC). So I'd expect anyone with a more electricity centric home to see an even faster return. ]]>Dec 8th 2009 12:27PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/
I have a 3BR house and didn't have to use the AC last summer (I don't use very much nat. gas heat at all either), but I'm not sure I have spent $300 total in electric bills since last April.

The only way I can reduce my bill is to start generating my own power. I need to start working on that.]]>Dec 8th 2009 1:29PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/
I'm duly impressed if you're less than $300 in electricity for 7 months. My excuses: $0.15/kwh pricing, home office, 2 laundry intensive kids (electric dryer), and a general love of gadgets. (Our family was featured in NY Times article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/20/business/energy-environment/20efficiency.html) ]]>Dec 8th 2009 1:52PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/
I am just a single guy who does laundry every 6 weeks (I don't throw away clothes). I use a little natural gas for the dryer, range, and my water heater, so it would be higher if I was only on electric. And I am not home for most of the day, and am sleeping for at least a few hours each night. I do pay the extra money for renewable energy through my electric company that all these people are paranoid about. My rates didn't go up $500, 800 or $3000 per year that I read most recently. I think I spend $50-60 a year. I would still like to own my own power generation ability so I don't need to pay an electric bill, but it is difficult to do in the suburbs.

But, I also am efficient everywhere except for my Linux DVR and refrigerator. They need to implement better power management settings in Mythbuntu, and the refrigerator is full of ice to make it a little more efficient. I wish I had a newer LED LCD HDTV, but the one I have is still working fine and doesn't use too much electricity when it is on.]]>Dec 8th 2009 3:20PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/Ours is just a run of the mill Comcast DVR (Scientific Atlanta made) but is a nasty vampire. For no good reason, ours measures 27 watts in off mode. Everything else in the entertainment center if switched off by the smart strip, but I can't stay up late enough to watch the Daily Show so it stays on. This needs to get fixed. ]]>Dec 8th 2009 5:15PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/
Yes and no - you didn't mention that on your larger loads, you can go to your 'load profile' tab and create a profile for a specific load. Example: you have an electric water heater. You can enter that into the profile wizard section, and force the water heater to cycle the power (this only works on non-variable consuming devices, on/off only). From now on, it'll track when and how often is sees the water heater's ~4.7kw cycling, and give you a little report on that specific appliance's daily usage. The same can work for electric resistance heating, refrigerators, and even home theaters.

Again, it takes a little footwork at the beginning, but yields some very useful data on usage habits and can help single out the loads.]]>Dec 8th 2009 12:28PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/Dec 8th 2009 12:47PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/
They probably developed the software FOR their server farms, with their own hardware, then passed it on to "us" (the consumers who can now buy hardware that interfaces with their software).]]>Dec 8th 2009 5:18PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/
P.S.: The Sarcastic Indian. ]]>Dec 8th 2009 12:53PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/
However, the Alertme system does need to have an instant display as you cannot see the instant usage without having a computer switched on which misses the point.

I have been using the Wattson product for the instant display and it has been very effective at reducing our consumption.
See: http://www.diykyoto.com/uk/wattson/about

Ideally, you need Alertme Enegy and the Wattson which I suspect is where the Alertme system roadmap is heading as I think they have quite a bit of investment money and r&d behind them.
]]>Dec 8th 2009 1:06PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/
Well, in NorCal tier 5/6 electricity costs over $0.40/kwhr, so it's pretty easy to save money. In my house, a 5% savings would let me break even within a year, anything beyond that would be gravy!

I've used my kill-a-watt to save a fair bit, but keeping up with that over time is a hassle. I also like the ability to track an appliance (like a fridge) over time to see if it starts losing efficiency. Helps take the guess-work out of regular maintenance etc.]]>Dec 8th 2009 1:09PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/
So people should see average savings of between $60 & $180 every year. Enough to pay for these devices many times over. Not to mention that serious energy savers can far exceed 15%. A google employee in this video claims to have saved over $3000 since he started testing Google PowerMeter:

http://www.plentyways.com/blog/2009/09/google-powermeter-tracking-your-energy-usage/

Not to mention the effect on the environment...]]>Dec 8th 2009 1:41PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/
For the DIYer, it looks like the CT clamps cost about $65 each and you can get any number of small processor boards with analog inputs ($25-$50 depending on features) that will read the 0-333 millivolt outputs. The rest is just a bit of logging and a comma separated file so that you can pull the data into Excel.]]>Dec 8th 2009 1:52PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/Dec 8th 2009 2:19PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/Dec 8th 2009 3:34PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/
I'm having the same issue today.]]>Dec 9th 2009 6:44PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/
Looking at the connection for both. TED CT's (Current Transformer, sensor that measures the power) connects to both phases A and B as you would want. Typically in US residence you will have split-phase power coming in. That's 120/240v. With only a single CT (Current Transformer, sensor that measures the power) as AlertMe has would only measure half of your power usage. So it wouldn't work in US, or any other country that uses split-phase power delivery. To make things worse, I don't see how it's reading the voltage if there is no connection.

TED software also has a lot of features that ware not mentioned, real-time graphing allows you to instantly identify loads that are robbing you, you can see patterns and even find devices that you wouldn't notice otherwise. Also don't forget that because the software resides within the gateway you can connect to it remotely using pretty much any device with a web browser, including thew new smart phones, and pda's. I can use full featured software on my HTC phone. There is also 3rd party software available for the iPhone if you wish to use a smaller more compact interface. And without a subscription cost associated its a no brainer. ]]>Dec 8th 2009 3:21PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/
You are right. What this article fails to mention is that AlertMe will not work in North America because of construction standards. The two hot conductors going into the typical North American electrical panel are not accessible for current measurement unless you open up the panel (as in the TED 5000 installation). I'm also wondering about the voltage issue. I am assuming that this is measured by the plug in appliance monitor but who knows. Without the correct voltage they are just making a guess at the REAL power being consumed. ]]>Dec 8th 2009 10:49PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/
As for the wish list it would be nice of TED to add water and gas collection devices since the central server device could just collect from them as well, maybe next year...]]>Dec 8th 2009 3:54PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/
Another thing neither of these seem to do is cope with tariffs charging different pricing rates according to the time of day. This would render the electricity cost shown fairly useless to me.]]>Dec 8th 2009 7:39PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/http://www.uninel.se.its not wireless, but it does show current and historic consumption on your local machine...works great for me]]>Dec 9th 2009 4:55AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/http://www.uninel.se]]>Dec 9th 2009 4:56AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/Dec 9th 2009 12:00PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/http://www.brultech.com/index.html) make no provision for breaking out categories of power generated; power consumed; net power to/from the electric grid.

]]>Dec 9th 2009 8:15AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/Dec 9th 2009 12:01PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/http://www.microsoft-hohm.com/.” if you have any quesitons reach out to me @microsofthohm or @elemenager - love to hear your feedback. Elliott Lemenager

]]>Dec 9th 2009 1:37PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/powering-googles-powermeter-testing-ted-5000-and-alertme-energ/
http://nexus.kumagames.com/portal/welcome/t5000]]>Aug 3rd 2010 12:18PM