Mobile Technology

Tendril mobile energy management system

Tendril mobile energy management system
Tendril mobile energy management system
Tendril mobile energy management system
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Tendril mobile energy management system
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Tendril mobile energy management system

March 10, 2009 If you are looking to reduce your energy consumption, be it as a good green citizen or just to save those hard earned dollars, knowing how much energy you are using, where specifically it is being used and having the capability to monitor it is essential. To this end, Tendril, a Boulder Colorado based company that make hardware and software to monitor and control power usage of home electricity using devices, today unveiled Tendril Vantage Mobile. This is a mobile Web application designed to provide consumers with information on their home energy consumption. The application offers consumers a range of features including text message alerts, usage graphs and carbon footprint information and modeling.

Background

There is a growing need to better manage energy consumption. Recently the Obama administration added to this stimuli calling for 40 million smart meters to be installed in American homes as part of the economic stimulus package. Currently several utilities in the USA are now installing these smart meters many of which are set up to communicate with in-home devices.

There are many different ways now available to measure home based energy utilization, taking advantage of the smart meter technology. Examples of these are the Energy Detective Google Power Meter or just getting the info direct from the utilities/energy providers. Having a mobile link to the network is an obvious next step in being able to access and control energy consumption in the home.

About Tendril Vantage Mobile

Built as part of the Tendril Residential Energy Ecosystem (TREE), Tendril Vantage Mobile provides consumers with the ability to access a range of information about their consumption (such as accumulating cost or real-time pricing changes) and to act on this information by controlling and scaling back in-home use from any location.

The Tendril Vantage Mobile interface provides enhanced presentation of information and more interactive options that help users monitor and manage home energy usage from their mobile device according to Tendril. Specific functionality now available, in beta form, includes:

  • Monthly bill information, including 13 months of data history to help users understand yearly behavior and make premeditated adjustments.
  • Daily cost information, such as hourly and daily data and averages that enable users to identify and impact short-term behavior.
  • List of settings to manage alerts and preferences on the go.
  • Demand response (DR) participation, including the ability to opt-in and opt-out of scheduled DR events remotely.
  • Ability to react to pricing information and critical peak price events anywhere.

To meet emerging consumer demand, in development, Tendril says that the following features are available to enable better energy management and cost-savings on utility bills:

  • Text message alerts, an opt-in program allowing consumers to receive messages related to price, bill thresholds and DR events.
  • Usage graphs that show consumable, easy to understand charts comparing daily, weekly and monthly averages.
  • Location-based firing of rules, enabling activation (and de-activation) of home energy rules and preferences from anywhere, based on real-time information.
  • Load management rules, defining and managing home energy rules in concert with load management program options with an energy provider.
  • Carbon footprint information and modeling.

David Greig

Via Tendril.

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