computer science

Google PowerMeter

Google PowerMeter is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Google PowerMeter rather than just read about it. In short: Google PowerMeter was a software project of Google's philanthropic arm, Google.org, to help consumers track their home electricity usage. It was launched on October 5, 2009, and ended on September 16, 2011.

Key takeaways

Google PowerMeter belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Google PowerMeter to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Google PowerMeter from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Google PowerMeter was a software project of Google's philanthropic arm, Google.org, to help consumers track their home electricity usage. It was launched on October 5, 2009, and ended on September 16, 2011. The development of the software was part of an effort by Google to invest in renewable energy, electricity grid upgrades, and other measures that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The software was designed to record the user's electricity usage in near real-time. Google partnered with various companies during the project.

Description Google PowerMeter was a software project of Google's philanthropic arm, Google.org. The software was designed to help consumers track their home electricity usage. It was launched on October 5, 2009. The software was designed to record the user's electricity usage in near real-time. In June 2011 Google announced the service would cease, which it did on September 16, 2011.

Purpose The development of the software was part of an effort by Google to invest in renewable energy, electricity grid upgrades, and other measures that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It was hoped that this tool would raise the home-owner's awareness of how much energy they use and make users more energy efficient. PowerMeter was intended for use with smart meters able to track electricity usage in more detail than standard electric meters. Some other types of electricity meters and in-home energy use displays could also be used with PowerMeter.

Analysis According to the company, if half of America's homes' energy use was cut by ten percent, it would equal the average energy used by eight million cars. According to Google, in 2009 there were approximately 40 million smart meters in use worldwide. By early 2009, approximately 7% of US homes had a smart meter installed.

Partnerships In May 2009, Google announced that it had partners with smart meter maker Itron. In October 2009 Google PowerMeter announced their first "device partner", The Energy Detective (TED 5000), an energy monitor from Energy Inc then only available only in North America, and their first UK partnership which was with AlertMe. Also in 2009, Yello Strom customers in Germany were able to begin adding the PowerMeter widget to their iGoogle pages to track their energy usage. In 2010 UK company Current Cost announced a collaboration with Google PowerMeter. San Diego Gas and Electric's Sempra Energy company announced plans to install 1.4 million smart meters in San Diego County and Southern Orange County by the end of 2011 and said that after they sent out 100,000 post cards to let consumers know they could use the Google PowerMeter service, about 6% had started to use it.

See also Google Energy Cent-a-meter Energy management software Hohm Kill A Watt Nonintrusive load monitoring

References

External links PowerMeter official site Archived 2017-06-29 at the Wayback Machine

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Google PowerMeter

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Google PowerMeter claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Google PowerMeter before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Google PowerMeter ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Google PowerMeter

In research: Google PowerMeter appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Google PowerMeter in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Google PowerMeter is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Discontinued Google software, Electricity meters, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Google PowerMeter outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Google PowerMeter in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Google PowerMeter means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Google PowerMeter out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Google PowerMeter in simple terms?

Why does Google PowerMeter matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Google PowerMeter?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Google PowerMeter.