Home Energy Monitoring
Monday, August 20th, 2007 at 10:09 pm 
By Ryan BrownIt’s very difficult to eliminate waste if you cannot measure what you’re wasting. One popular feature of the Toyota Prius (and many newer cars) is the instantaneous Miles per Gallon (MPG) display. This gives the driver immediate feedback regarding how efficiently or inefficiently they are driving.
Many Prius owners report being fixated on their MPG, feathering the gas pedal trying to maximize their score, as if playing a video game. This BusinessWeek article from a few years back describes it well:
46 Miles Per Gallon… 47… 48…
Rarely do I worry about how much gas I’m burning while lead-footing it through town. But after a few days in Toyota Motor Corp.’s (TM) new Prius, I became fixated, like a kid staring at a video game, on the fuel-economy numbers flickering at the top of my dashboard. Soon I was poking along at 55 in a 65-mph zone, sweltering with my air-conditioning purposely shut off and the windows rolled up (it cuts down wind resistance). All that so I could nudge my mileage up to the government-rated 48 miles per gallon.
Simply making the driver aware improves the efficiency of the system. The same can be said for home energy usage. That’s why I’m excited to get my hands on one of these TED devices. TED = “The Energy Detective.” An electrician installs the sensors in your electrical box, allowing you to constantly monitor and record the energy usage in your home. The TED 1000 unit only costs $139.95.
To be clear: I don’t plan on turning off my AC or reading by candlelight to save electricity. Just the opposite - The goal of a high-performance home is to maintain or improve quality of life while reducing resource consumption. Monitoring the electricity I use is a critical step towards becoming more efficient.
Check out Mavromatic’s Blog for a hands-on review.
