Seeing as Google is such a huge part of our lives insofar as we use its search tools to delve the far-flung corners of the Web, we use its mapping services to peer into the backyards of neighbours, and we even use its operating system in our mobile phones, why not allow Google to monitor our energy consumption too?
Google\'s PowerMeter application will allow users to monitor and reduce their household emissions. Image: midnighttoadstool/Flickr.
Specifically, Google’s ongoing march to play a defining role in almost every facet of human existence has now seen the California-based technology company announcing a software application that will enable users to track their energy usage and actively lower their household emissions.
The aptly titled Google PowerMeter application will deliver almost real-time coverage of the user’s household energy consumption directly to their computer desktop, announced Google via its official online blog on Tuesday.
According to Google’s introductory post, studies have shown that by providing access to energy consumption information focused within the home, users could potentially trim their monthly bills by as much as 15 percent.
“It may not sound like much,” said Google in a Reuters report, “but if half of America’s households cut their energy demand by 10 percent, it would be the equivalent of taking eight million cars off the road.”
PowerMeter is being developed as an offshoot of two “smart grid” companies (Current Group and Silver Spring Networks) set up by Google to create more cost-efficient ways of carrying electricity into homes and businesses across long-distance power lines.
PowerMeter is set to arrive as a single contributing aspect spawned by the hundreds of millions of dollars the search titan is presently investing in research into renewable energy and ways the planet can reduce the damaging effects of greenhouse gases.
Not yet ready for its final release, the application is currently being put through its paces by Google staff. However, a Google spokesperson has said the company hopes to have its energy-monitoring software available for public download within the next few months.
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