Google PowerMeter comes to Blue Line Innovations' PowerCost Monitor
Energy conservation isn't just good for the environment, it's also good for the family budget. Being aware of your energy consumption can help you cut costs by as much as 5 to 15 percent, according to some estimates. One product that can help with real time power monitoring of your consumption habits is the Power Cost Monitor, a device we got to spend some quality time with over the summer after Blue Line Innovation kicked off a partnership with Microsoft HOHM. The partnerships are expected to widen today when BLI announces support for Google's competing PowerMeter web monitoring solution. As such, owners of the $249ish PowerCost Monitor WiFi Edition kit will have yet another method for measuring their carbon footprint from a PC or smartphone -- and that's a good thing.
Update: We have the official PR after the break.
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Blue Line Innovations and Google PowerMeter™ partner
to add more choice to real time electricity monitoring.
Monday December 20, 2010. San Francisco, California
Google PowerMeter™ broadened its device partners today by adding connectivity to the
PowerCost Monitor™ by Blue Line Innovations.
Google PowerMeter is a free energy monitoring tool that helps you save energy
and money. Using energy information provided by the PowerCost Monitor, Google
PowerMeter enables you to view your home's energy consumption from anywhere
online. It incorporates features such as tracking energy over time, always on power,
predicting costs, budget tracking and community sharing.
The PowerCost Monitor, which introduced its WiFi Gateway accessory this summer,
is the only electricity monitoring product in full device partnership with both Google
PowerMeter and Microsoft Hohm®. The WiFi Gateway allows families with a PowerCost
Monitor or Black & Decker Power Monitor to view their data on line or through a mobile
device and provides them with their choice of online partner. A very simple plug and
play configuration allows the consumer the flexibility to change their partner selection
at any time.
Peter Porteous, CEO, Blue Line Innovations said, "We are very pleased to be partnering
with Google PowerMeter today. Our WiFi launch and partnership with Microsoft Hohm
was very successful and now we are able to offer consumers even greater choice and
control over energy usage".
Porteous continues, "This really signals our business and product strategy. At Blue Line
we see ourselves in the access to data space. Our patented and proven optical sensing
technology has been on the market since 2004 and provides a safe, universal and do
it yourself (no electrician required) solution for homeowners. The PowerCost Monitor
turns dumb meters into smart meters and smart meters into even smarter meters."
"The innovation and investment in smart grid and home automation is really exciting
but at the end of the day universal access to real time data is paramount."
Recent industry reports suggest that today only 7% of smart meters deployed are in
broadcast mode and over the next decade only 50% of the market will have smart
meters in place. The PowerCost Monitor provides accurate, real time data reporting to
approximately 90% of the market today – legacy, analogue, digital or smart meters.
Porteous commented, "This is a very exciting role for us in the home energy
management ecosystem. Whether it's helping get real time data to an online
partner such as Google PowerMeter, to a utility partner who isn't yet ready to invest
in a broadcasting smart meter network or a home automation partner, Blue Line
Innovations has a range of delivery systems to provide real time energy data access to
that home"
About Google PowerMeter™
Google PowerMeter™ is a free energy monitoring tool that helps you save energy
and money. Using energy information provided by utility smart meters and energy
monitoring devices, Google PowerMeter enables you to view your home's energy
consumption from anywhere online. See http://www.google.com/powermeter/about/
about.html
About Blue Line Innovations
Blue Line Innovations Inc. developed and markets the PowerCost Monitor™, a line
of wireless, portable, real-time energy reporting devices for the home. Blue Line
Innovations has been active in the business of real time energy feedback for 6 years
with over 130,000 PowerCost Monitors™ in the market since 2004. Easy to install, the
PowerCost Monitor™, communicates wirelessly to the meter and now through a WiFi
Gateway to the internet and Microsoft Hohm® and Google PowerMeter™. Independent
research has confirmed that homes using the PowerCost Monitor™ can save up to 18%
on their monthly electricity bill. For more information and the retailer in your area see,
www.bluelineinnovations.com
