Microsoft and Google warm to energy monitors

 

Gallery

By Dawinderpal Sahota

Posted on 11 Feb 2009 at 13:00

Microsoft and Google both claim to be doing their bit for the environment with the launch of two new services designed to monitor energy consumption.

Microsoft's Environmental Sustainability Dashboard, an add-on to its Dynamics AX application, aims to help businesses keep an eye on their power usage.

The service helps businesses identify opportunities to increase energy efficiency and cut costs, and tracks progress of initiatives to decrease their impact on the environment.

Users can input utility bill information, and the dashboard will generate a read-out of historical trends and a calculation of how much greenhouse gases the business produces.

In the version of the Environmental Sustainability Dashboard that has just been launched, companies must enter information manually, but according to Microsoft, the next version will see data sent automatically from "advanced" meters and directly from utilities.

Meanwhile Google has unveiled a similar service for homes. Powermeter is a web tool that receives information from networked smart meters; devices that plug into your home's standard electricity meter to show how much energy your house is using.

Powermeter collates the data from a smart metre and lets homeowners analyse their energy usage.

Google is still testing the Powermeter ahead of a full consumer rollout.