Comments on: The Case of the Home Energy Boom: 3M Invests in The Energy Detective

By: Belkin’s New Home Energy Monitor, Vampire Power Killers

Belkin’s New Home Energy Monitor, Vampire Power Killers — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 19:32:31 +0000

[...] Detective device for measuring household current, has a partnership with Google’s PowerMeter and an investment from 3M to its credit. AlertMe, another PowerMeter partner, has been selling a home energy management kit [...]

By: The Case of the Home Energy Boom: 3M Invests in The Energy Detective « SmartGrid Current

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 15:31:35 +0000

[...] The Case of the Home Energy Boom: 3M Invests in The Energy Detective Posted January 20, 2010 Filed under: Uncategorized | http://earth2tech.com/2010/01/17/the-case-of-the-home-energy-boom-3m-invests-in-the-energy-detective… [...]

By: Under $100 At Fry’s: The PowerCost Monitor

Under $100 At Fry’s: The PowerCost Monitor — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 16:46:24 +0000

[...] suggesting its been eying energy management, and 3M’s new interest in energy management through its investment in Energy Inc, which makes The Energy Detective. Earlier this month at the Consumer Electronics Show [...]

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 07:04:48 +0000

Alex, I think you'll see that display devices have a noticeable effect on the mass market when they are actually GIVEN AWAY to the mass market.

Devices like TED are really only going to be purchased by early adopters as those are the only types of people that would be willing to spend $200 on a device that simply spits out your energy consumption. I am sure that these same people will use a device like TED to the fullest so that they can rationalize their purchase. So I agree that perhaps some of their claimed energy savings are unique to this user group.

When a utility provides a display device for free to their customers as part of the Smart Metering rollout, the mass market will not have the same behaviours as the TED users, but they will react to things such as TOU pricing. A simple LED on the other side of the room that is flashing red when the price of power is high, might be all that we really need to get that 5-10% peak usage reduction that the utilities are aiming for.

Then we can work on proper Energy Management to solve the rest of it... But to get the mass market to appreciate energy management, we have to take baby steps to get there and that starts with monitoring.

By: Frank

Frank — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 17:39:58 +0000

Oh Katie - You're so funny.

By: Alex

Alex — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 08:09:32 +0000

open4energy has been concerned for some time about how electricity monitoring, which we agree will increase energy awareness, will actually translate into electricity savings.

I have been following a blog by Tom at fivepercent. He has a number of postings on how the family use the information from their TED 5000. Theory is one thing, but here is a real early adopter. In his case I am going to admit that the information they have obtained has been used to take saving actions and reduce their energy use.

I am still not convinced that they needed a monitor to take the actions they have.

I join Katie in wondering why 3M want to invest in a company selling a device which is going to have an interesting time transitioning from meeting its early adopter interests, to being a component of the average homes electricity management.

In my opinion this was the ideal quick way for 3M to get linked to Google's PowerMeter. Now this has every probability of being in most homes if Google's ability to deliver a free useful software widget is anything to go by.

A smart marketing move indeed, particularly if they have aspirations to enter the home energy management market. I guess we will be updating our lists of energy saving (as opposed to energy monitoring) devices soon!