But what is even cooler than the dashboard (which can display power, carbon footprint or $) is that you can see what how power varied over a day or week or month. Here is a sample graph showing our use over a day.
Seeing a 4.5 jump in kW from an electric water heater that turns on doing dishes is almost startling. Also, seeing 500 watts burning in the middle of the night leads to an inventory of ignored appliances like TV, computer, printer, and Xbox. As I start to check the graphs, I inevitably start to think of ways to cut energy use. Once installed, this is a great tool for saving energy.
Installation is not difficult, but you need to be an electrician or an engineer (or foolhardy) to do it yourself since there is danger of electrocution. An electrician could install it in 2 hours in most cases. The manual that comes with the meter is pretty clear, but here are photos of the basic install. Needless to say, please read the manual - this is just a cursory overview.
Now that you have a power meter installed, you can measure the effectiveness of all future energy saving steps, plus you will probably save energy by the simple act of measuring it.
COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS - While this meter was for a residence, you can create a similar setup for an office, store or commercial building, where the dollars are much higher. There are three phase versions of these meters for larger electrical services, and you can still get remote web access for ease of use. One popular vendor is E-mon D-mon, but there are several others as well. One important feature you can add is the ability to monitor gas and water meters as well, so you can check on all utilities via the web. In addition to saving energy and water, this lets you check on your landlord or tenant, who otherwise might make inadvertent errors.
If you need help on any of these issues (or would like a link to see my power meter in action), please let me know via email info@dwyer.com.
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