Have you ever thought about what it would be like to drive a car without the dashboard? You wouldn't know how fast you were going or when you would run out of gas. Without indicator lights you might not know your brake lamps need to be replaced or that you were due for an oil change. Knowing your status, at any given moment, is the reason for the dashboard in your car.

Dashboards have evolved over time and have become more and more useful. Mine tells me how hot it is outside and how many more miles I can drive before I run out of fuel. It also tells me how many miles per gallon I am averaging over a period of time or instantaneously. This information helps shape my behavior. When I glance at the dashboard and see that I am speeding I slow down. When I see that my low fuel light is on I stop for gas.

You might be asking yourself; where are you going with this? Imagine you had a dashboard for your house. It could tell you how much electricity, gas and water you use. You could see consumption based on the day, week, year or over the life of the house. You could have it alert you (think check engine light!) if the air-conditioner starts to consume more electricity than average. A dashboard for your home could do the same thing a dashboard for your car does - alert you to problems, track your usage and help shape your behavior.

Imagine a system that allows you to set an alert if your electricity per day consumption goes above a pre-set limit. Imagine the system automatically dims the lights to max at 80% to keep costs at your pre-defined limit. (you could over-ride it of course!) Imagine that the system alerts you when you have a running toilet because it noticed that water flow had not stopped in that area. Wouldn't a system like this help shape your behavior, lower utility costs and even reduce your carbon footprint?

Agilewaves is a new company with an excellent product that is just this - a dashboard for your home. Their system includes sensors and a processor. The processor gathers and stores the data from the sensors and displays the data in an easy to read (and understand) format.

Electricity is monitored in wattage and dollars. Water is monitored by flow rate and total consumption in gallons and dollars. The entire system can be monitored on a macro or micro level. (By house, by floor, by category, etc)

They take it one step further, which is what has us excited, is that the system when combined with a Crestron home automation system actually gives you the ability to set alerts and automatically conform your usage to pre-determined parameters. These alerts can be displayed on a  touch panel, web interface or both. The homeowner can monitor their home remotely or in the case of multiple residences they can monitor by home separately or in total.

I've heard that "knowing is half the battle." I agree with this statement. Knowing you are speeding will usually get you to slow down. Knowing you are out of fuel will encourage you to fill up. Knowing your check-engine light is on will prompt you to stop at the service station to see what is wrong. In your house, knowing your electricity usage will shape decisions and encourage conservation. Knowing how much money you are saving by switching out light bulbs with CFL's, replacing that old air-conditioner or setting your lights at 80% will encourage further conservation and in turn better habits. It's good for the environment and your pocket book.

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