Smartphone Apps for Energy Management

As smartphones continue to take over almost every part of our lives, managing our energy use at home may be the next thing coming. At least that's what four Canadian academics are projecting in their current paper published in the International Journal of Sustainable Energy. Smartphones could significantly accelerate home energy audits for greater energy conservation over traditionla methods, like having trained energy auditors driving from house to house to look at heating and cooling systems once a year.

Smartphone Apps for Energy Management

Their study analyzed 157.000 homes in Southeastern Ontario and found it would take 55 years to complete an energy audit of every house using the inefficient traditional method. With smartphones at every house this could be done all at once. The usefulness of smartphones may come as no surprise, but energy management gadgets have yet to catch on in homes at the same reate as commercial real estate. It seems energy savings aren't as compelling for homeowners. Most energy management systems are too complicated, and the saving aren't big enough to justify effort on the part of the homeowner.

Nevertheless there are lots of startups and big companies trying to solve this problem. Technology researchers believe on a global revenue for home energy management will surpass $4 billion by 2016. So the interest is there and smartphones may be the answer. According to research from 2011 by IT consulting firm Accenture, 50 percent of 18 to 24 year olds were interested in smartphone apps that allow them to measure their energy consumption.