physics

Home energy monitor

Home energy monitor is a physics 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 Home energy monitor rather than just read about it. In short: A home energy monitor is a device that provides information about a personal electrical energy usage to a consumer of electricity. Devices may display the amount of electricity used, plus the cost of energy used and estimates of greenhouse gas emissions.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

A home energy monitor is a device that provides information about a personal electrical energy usage to a consumer of electricity. Devices may display the amount of electricity used, plus the cost of energy used and estimates of greenhouse gas emissions. The purpose of such devices is to assist in the management of power consumption. Several initiatives have been launched to increase the usage of home energy monitors. Studies have shown a reduction of home energy when the devices are used.

Description

A home energy monitor provides information about electrical energy usage to electricity consumers (e.g., homeowners).. In addition to the amount of electrical usage, devices may display other information, including the cost of energy used and estimates of greenhouse gas emissions. The purpose of such devices is to assist in the management of power consumption. Home energy monitors consist of a measuring component and a display component. Electricity use is measured with an inductive clamp placed around the electric main, through an optical port on the electric meter, by sensing the meter's actions, communicating with a smart meter, or via a direct connection to the electrical system. Some plug-in units can store their readings when not connected. The display portion may be remote from the measurement component, communicating with the sensor via cable, network, power line communications, or radio. Online displays are also available, which allow the user to use an internet connected display to show near real-time consumption.

Initiatives

Australia In January 2009 the government of the state of Queensland, Australia began offering wireless energy monitors as part of its ClimateSmart Home Service program. In August 2009, nearly 100,000 homes had signed up for the service, and by August 2010, the number had increased to 200,000 homes. In mid-2013 the government of the state of Victoria, Australia enabled Zigbee-based In-Home Displays to be connected to Victorian Smart Meter. From September 2019, the Victorian households are eligible to avail rebates for home energy monitor installation under the Victorian Energy Upgrades Program.

Google PowerMeter

Google PowerMeter was a software project of Google's philanthropic arm, Google.org, to help consumers track their home electricity usage that ran from October 5, 2009 to September 16, 2011.

Studies Various studies have shown a reduction in home energy use of 4-15% through use of home energy display. A study by Hydro One using the PowerCost Monitor deployed in 500 Ontario homes showed an average 6.5% drop in total electricity use when compared with a similarly sized control group. Based on these results, Hydro One subsequently offered power monitors to 30,000 customers for $8.99 shipping and handling. A study in the city of Sabadell, Spain in 2009 using the Efergy e2 in 29 households during a six-month period found a drop of 11.8% in weekly consumption between the first and last weeks of the campaign. On a monthly basis, the savings were 14.3%. Expected annual CO2 emissions for all households were estimated to reduce by 4.1 tonnes; projected emissions savings for 2020 were 180.6 tonnes.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Home energy monitor

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Home energy monitor claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, 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 Home energy monitor 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 Home energy monitor 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 Home energy monitor

In research: Home energy monitor appears in physics 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 Home energy monitor 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: Home energy monitor is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Electric power, Electricity meters, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Home energy monitor 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 Home energy monitor in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Home energy monitor 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 Home energy monitor out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Home energy monitor in simple terms?

Why does Home energy monitor matter?

Because it connects several physics 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 Home energy monitor?

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 Home energy monitor.