This has been bugging me for years now. Maybe there is a way to crowdsource a solution?
There are several ways home electricity use could be monitored.
Special outlets that can track usage (like a built-in Kill-A-Watt) where you could replace all outlets in the house with them. Special light switches that do the same. Special breakers that can do the same for home breaker circuits. Another option that might help would be if there was some kind of Kill-A-Watt device for 240V 6-50 and 14-50 outlets.
How much of this is really doable? I think just having outlets and switches designed to track usage would be a huge benefit that could really help people analyze and fix the larger power drains in their house. The Kill-A-Watt itself can work, but it kind of sucks; it's a totally manual process and it blocks one of the outlets where you can only use one outlet at a time.
I'd probably be willing to pay about $50 per outlet and switch myself, plus maybe $200 for a central control unit. Where each one will track usage and report it to a collection device either wirelessly or wired over power (like how some solar power system units operate).
A true "smart home" will stop trying to flip switches for me and just provide a detailed report on usage instead so I can change my own habits and replace equipment based on my on analysis and preferences.
Now, admittedly this would be an expensive system. So here's another question. Why can't companies that do energy assessments do this temporarily for customers? Replace outlets and switches with their own tracking systems for maybe a week to provide customers a detailed report on energy use. This would be so much more helpful than the garbage service they usually provide. I guess there would be too many liability issues.
Anyway, rant over. The current situation for tracking energy use just plain sucks.
There are several ways home electricity use could be monitored.
Special outlets that can track usage (like a built-in Kill-A-Watt) where you could replace all outlets in the house with them. Special light switches that do the same. Special breakers that can do the same for home breaker circuits. Another option that might help would be if there was some kind of Kill-A-Watt device for 240V 6-50 and 14-50 outlets.
How much of this is really doable? I think just having outlets and switches designed to track usage would be a huge benefit that could really help people analyze and fix the larger power drains in their house. The Kill-A-Watt itself can work, but it kind of sucks; it's a totally manual process and it blocks one of the outlets where you can only use one outlet at a time.
I'd probably be willing to pay about $50 per outlet and switch myself, plus maybe $200 for a central control unit. Where each one will track usage and report it to a collection device either wirelessly or wired over power (like how some solar power system units operate).
A true "smart home" will stop trying to flip switches for me and just provide a detailed report on usage instead so I can change my own habits and replace equipment based on my on analysis and preferences.
Now, admittedly this would be an expensive system. So here's another question. Why can't companies that do energy assessments do this temporarily for customers? Replace outlets and switches with their own tracking systems for maybe a week to provide customers a detailed report on energy use. This would be so much more helpful than the garbage service they usually provide. I guess there would be too many liability issues.
Anyway, rant over. The current situation for tracking energy use just plain sucks.