GoFixItPB

Peter Behnke Sustainability Problems 12/3/12 Go Fix It! Post

The Energy Information Administration states that the United States used 97.4 quadrillion BTU’s in the year of 2002. Approximately one fifth of this total came from the energy use of homes and nearly 60% of that came in the form of electricity. Similarly, small residential users waste about 41% of their supplied power (Comparative). All this truly means is that our homes are one of the largest consumers of energy in the world. Therefore my Go Fit It solution is to perpetuate the widespread use of home energy monitoring. Home energy monitoring or real time monitoring (RTM) can be defined as the collection and display of information related to an individual’s energy use. An example of a primitive RTM would be the programmable thermostat. This is due to the fact that it only reads air temperature and that there are limited settings for it. However, there are currently new and more advanced RTM’s coming to the marketplace now and in the future. Hopefully these new RTM’s will offer 5-20% energy savings each year (eMonitor). I looked at two studies, one from Nebraska and one from Britain, that attempted to calculate how much energy one can save if they were using RTM devices in their home. Both studies employed different sets of techniques and RTM devices. Similarly, both reviewed many of the devices they used and surveyed consumers based on ease of use and other factors. In the study by the Nebraskans 3 separate RTM devices were given to different consumers. All of these devices worked in the same way but had different visual cues for the user. The problem stated with all of these devices though is that they do not offer solutions to electricity problems. The results of this study however were inconclusive due to there not being a significant statistical change between those with RTM’s and those who were part of the control group (Comparative). However this may be due to the fact that there were only 151 homes in the study and that these homes stated that they were in fact energy conscious. Therefore there may have been little room to help these consumers if they were already controlling use. Therefore I doubt that these results would be replicated on a large scale. In the British study instead of installing separate RTM’s they instead built a whole house RTM. This not only tracked electricity usage but also natural gas. Also it was controlled by a set top box that displayed all of the information. This combination of RTM’s accounted for all major appliances (stove, computer etc), total electricity use, individual circuit use, and heating use. This can all be provided for less than 1000 euro as a retrofit to older homes. New homes would be even cheaper to install in. (Energy) The current issues with RTM devices is that they do not offer tips on how to reduce energy usage, they are intrusive to one’s home or lifestyle, and they do not have enough functionality to allow that technically inclined to be satisfied with the amount of information provided (Energy). While there are a large number of problems with these devices, there are also easy fixes to the problems. With enough time I believe that RTM’s will be in every home and will allow consumers to simply power down entire rooms. I personally envision a tablet based application, which can be patched onto a smart phone, which has individual circuits or outlets connected to it that allows the user to see where electricity is going as well as be able to turn off the circuits or outlets. Similarly, the software would give tips or hints on how to save more money in your home given weather data from the internet as well as your preset ideals of how you want your house to be. In this manner, it will allow even energy intensive users to be able to sit down and look at it whilst watching TV or waiting anywhere that you can use your cell phone.

Works Cited Alahmad, M., P. Wheeler, A. Schwer, J. Eiden, and A. Brumbaugh. "A Comparative Study of Three Feedback Devices for Residential Real-Time Energy Monitoring." //IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics// (2011): 2002-013. Print. LaMonica, Martin. "EMonitor Home Energy Tracker Drills Deep." //CNET News//. CBS Interactive, 15 Mar. 2010. Web. 04 Dec. 2012. . O'Hara, Martin, Robert Blackwell, and Tony Taylor. "Energy Monitoring, Comfort and Control from Your Armchair." //EEDAL// (2011): n. pag. Web. 4 Dec. 2012.