Tawanai

From Google’s offiical blog, introducing the new intiative on monitoring your energy use.

Over the last several months, our engineers have developed a software tool called Google PowerMeter, which will show consumers their home energy information almost in real time, right on their computer. Google PowerMeter is not yet available to the public since we’re testing it out with Googlers first. But we’re building partnerships with utilities and independent device manufacturers to gradually roll this out in pilot programs. Once we’ve had a chance to kick the tires, we’ll make the tool more widely available.

Google’s mission is to “organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful,” and we believe consumers have a right to detailed information about their home electricity use. We’re tackling the challenge on several fronts, from policy advocacy to developing consumer tools, and even investing in smart grid companies. We’ve been participating in the dialogue in Washington, DC and with public agencies in the U.S. and other parts of the world to advocate for investment in the building of a “smart grid,” to bring our 1950s-era electricity grid into the digital age. Specifically, to provide both consumers and utilities with real-time energy information, homes must be equipped with advanced energy meters called “smart meters.” There are currently about 40 million smart meters in use worldwide, with plans to add another 100 million in the next few years.

Conservation, Consumers, Electricity

Engadget has a nice post about green gadgets competition.

Recompute is a fully sustainable design for a desktop computer — meaning that it makes use of low-impact manufacturing, uses fully recycled materials, and is easily dismantled at the end of its life for… you guessed it: more recycling. We don’t have full specs on this puppy right now, but we know it’s got 8 USB ports, and that we’re getting one if it ever makes it to production. Also in the running is the RITI eco-friendly printer, which uses coffee and / or tea dregs in place of costly, old, boring and non-eco-friendly ink. The printer is also manually operated, and does not use electricity — which may not make it the speediest device in the world — but we don’t print that much, anyway. Next up, there’s Harddrive — which is a simple USB flash drive encased in concrete to stave off harmful leaching into landfills once disposed of — though the concrete obviously makes the drive a bit nastier to haul around town. Finally, the Inlet Outlet is a whole-home concept that combines a standard outlet — which eats up the juice — with an inlet right next to it, which returns some electricity to the grid. The design is for adapter kits which could easily be used to green up your home.

Clean Technology, Consumers, Green