At this year’s Greener Gadgets conference, hosted in New York by the Consumer Electronics Association, some new cleantech concepts and devices were introduced. A big hit seems to be the Tweet-a-Watt (by Phillip Torrone) which is an energy monitor that integrates a ZigBee wireless data module and links to Twitter.
How does it work?
Well, the new energy monitor allows your electronic devices to broadcast their energy consumption directly to your Twitter account. The gadget does not save energy per se, but really makes you aware of how much energy is being spent by your devices at home. Afterall, awareness is the first step toward taking action for any cause including saving energy.
The cool thing is that the device is being released as an “Open source hardware” project – which means that anybody can make and modify the device or even make a commercial product from it.
It very much the same idea as linking the SmartMeter with Google PowerMeter. You get to monitor consumption for each of your devices. The only difference seems to be is that the fact that it is broadcasting the data to Twitter instead of the Web for reporting (Google PowerMeter). You can learn more about the SmartMeter and Google PowerMeter’s project in my Can Google Help Us Conserve Energy? blog post.
Another great by-product from this new invention is that the younger generation, who are already inclined to using tools and gadgets available on the web, will most likely engage in energy conservation using this tool by virtual social competition.
I would love to hear how useful such gadgets would be for you.
That is such a cool gadget. I’m sure it will be a huge hit. There is a city here in Australia that has a giant electronic sign in the middle of the city that broadcasts the energy consumption of the city at any given time. Some critics may say that you are using more power in the process but awareness is a huge motivation factor and will therefore create a reduction.
Yes, I TOTALLY agree with you that _awareness_ is a huge motivational factor. The key to addressing any issue is awareness. And I am confident that the younger tech savvy generation will be hip to it as the wave of energy conservation eventually catches on. It might just be the vehicle that their generation will learn from to become more frugal and wise in their energy consumption and spending.