Both Microsoft and Google are providing software that helps automate and visualize electricity usage.
Microsoft’s solution, using its Dynamics AX technology, is intended to help large building operators monitor their environmental impact and efficiency.
Google’s solution is open source software that is intended to stimulate an ecosystem of products that help consumers change their behavior through better access to real time information (see NYT article). In the same way that Prius owners tend to change their driving habits due to the information display that shows how different kinds of driving produce different fuel economy in the car.
The advent of real-time data coupled with social technologies that help people see how their friends and neighbors are doing compared to them will likely have a significant impact on our power consumption.
