Metering Musing
In 10 years time, most households will have a display in their home that reports on the current and recent utility usage (primarily electricity, water and gas) within the home. Such devices are already available and the development and interest is exploding. The cost to install the hardware in new homes will become trivial, and retrofitting will become more accessible. The applications are both obvious and far-reaching, and the implications for awareness of domestic energy consumption are impressive. More esoteric applications include charging or rewarding individual house occupants for their power usage, or compiling real-world application efficiency reports.
In 10 years people will find it hard to believe that people were so ignorant of their household energy usage footprint 10 years ago. Like cars that report their own fuel consumption, houses that report their own energy consumption will change perceptions.
Today, when I check the water meter I figure if the digits are changing, I have a leak to attend to. If I check the power meter and nothing is changing, I figure it is broken.
In 10 years time this wont be the case.