{"id":14502,"date":"2012-06-11T10:15:27","date_gmt":"2012-06-11T16:15:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-367309-1145705.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=14502"},"modified":"2012-06-11T10:15:27","modified_gmt":"2012-06-11T16:15:27","slug":"home-energy-management-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/home-energy-management-system\/","title":{"rendered":"20\/20 Foresight: A Home Energy Management System that Works for You (instead of your utility)"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a><\/p>\n Utilities are slowly modernizing the electrical infrastructure yet the rollout of smart meters has met with skepticism from consumers who have seen their utility bills change \u2014 in some cases dramatically.<\/p>\n Smart meters have been designed with the utilities in mind in order to more accurately bill for consumed energy. However, as consumers we\u2019re still in the dark as to how much energy we\u2019re consuming. Saying that I used 50 kilowatts of power last month is not useful. This lack of meaningful information has launched a new industry known as Home Energy Management Systems (HEMS)<\/a>. The concept of home energy management has gone from \u201cnice to have\u201d to \u201cgotta have\u201d in order to get a true and understandable reading of how much energy your household consumes.<\/p>\n Because there are many different types of residential users and a wide variety of utility rate structures, there will be no one-size-fits-all energy management solution.\u00a0Rather than having one solution dictated by the utility, there are a number of well-vetted products that address these varying needs:<\/p>\n Recognizing the need for consumer information, the White House Office of Science and Technology launched the Green Button initiative<\/a> to provide electricity customers with easy access to energy usage data in a consumer-friendly format via a \u201cGreen Button\u201d on electric utilities\u2019 websites. Here at EcoDog<\/a> we jumped at the opportunity and created a Green Button app<\/a> to help SDG&E and PG&E consumers predict the energy savings from big-ticket eco-friendly items like electric vehicles and solar panels prior to purchase. This is a good way to get the ball rolling toward overall decreased energy use, while HEMS provide specific data points tailored to a homeowner\u2018s lifestyle.<\/p>\n\n