Mobile Applications that Help You Save Energy

A key component in our efforts to be efficient about our energy usage is access to information. Without energy data we won’t have a clear picture of where our energy is going and may be missing out on critical opportunities to not only reduce our utility bills but our overall energy consumption, as well. Although efforts have been made at the state level to increase access to our energy data, there are a few new digital applications that provide individual customers with access to their data in real-time.

The Chai Energy App gathers energy data from your home smart meter and provides you with data on your energy consumption. The app also provides you with recommendations on what you can do to reduce your home’s energy usage. This can include changing your lighting or replacing an old appliance with a newer more efficient model. Now that utilities across the state will be rolling out time of use rates by 2019, you can even use the app to determine the best time to use your energy intensive appliances to achieve optimized savings.

OhmConnect is another mobile application that takes things a step further. This application not only provides you with your electricity consumption data but it can also tell you where your energy is coming from and how great of an impact your usage has on the environment. This is because OhmConnect determines the type of power plant that is providing your home with energy based on your location and the time of day. Along with providing you with this information the application will even pay you for reducing your energy usage by aggregating your reductions in energy usage with thousands of other customers in Demand Response markets.

Our mobile devices connect us to the world around us. Both of the above applications have tapped into that link to provide a behavior based approach to energy conservation through information sharing. As technologies in our households and offices become even more interconnected we will no doubt see continued advances in using data to help us optimize our energy usage and create more sustainable communities.