FREE PowerCost Monitor - National Grid

John Dailey

Monday, 04 Jun 2007 14:42 UTC

Every since reading about Viridian Electricity Meter contest in WIRED magazine in 2001, I’ve wanted one. Except that the designs were all imaginary. It seems there’s now an Newfoundland company that can sell me what I want: a device to monitor my actual energy usage in dollars and cents and empower me to save $.

“With a PowerCost Monitor you can tell at a glance how much electricity your home is consuming – moment-to-moment and in total. This is the advantage of real-time feedback on your electricity. Why wait for your electricity bill when you can see what you are spending on electricity as you spend it! Tests in Ontario and elsewhere have proven that householders who use real-time feedback can reduce electricity use by as much as five to 20 per cent.”

Best of all, it seems that you don’t even need an electrician to install these units: they strap over top of both electromechanical and electronic meters.

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    • Thanks for joining and commenting John!

      So what is this real-time electricity meter? Do you have any links to give us more background? It sounds like a logical add-on to our programmable thermostats in the home.

      That being said, who is Viridian?

    • The monitor attaches to the outside of the electrical panel (no wires) completely wireless and displays how much electricity you are using on a wireless display inside in the house. I like it becuase i can see how much my energy costs go up by turning on the washer/dryer and turning off unecssary lights in the house.

      The info I came across is at www.bluelineinnovations.com , theyre are the company that makes it. or go to www.save-electricity.ca is for the actual monitor itself. It’s a pretty need little gadget.

      Oh, and also, Viridian is an Irish Energy Business with promoting efficiency as a main objective.

    • Oh, I almost forgot, Hi Jeffrey, and thanks. This wesbite seems like an excellent source of information and a great place exchange ideas and opinions. I look forward to more involvement in the future.

    • Hi,
      I used to make a device like this back in 1983 using a Commodore 64 computer to log the data.

      I’ve recently redeveloped this product as a low-cost software app (less the $5), which uses a pc and webcam (or cctv) to read the electricity meter. A new version out soon can read gas and water meters. If you’re interested, visit
      www.calc-electric.com

    • Hi! How accurate are these devices and is there one that will display the currency in £?

      Thanks in advance,
      Adam!

    • User removed

      21 Apr 2008 | 14:43

      This content has been removed by the forum moderators.

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