Urban Jacksonville » powermeter http://www.urbanjacksonville.info A blog about Downtown Jacksonville, Springfield and other urban neighborhoods Tue, 16 Aug 2011 11:10:51 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.2 UPDATE: I’ve Joined the JEA Google PowerMeter Pilot http://www.urbanjacksonville.info/2009/06/08/ive-joined-the-jea-google-powermeter-pilot/ http://www.urbanjacksonville.info/2009/06/08/ive-joined-the-jea-google-powermeter-pilot/#comments Mon, 08 Jun 2009 12:36:35 +0000 Joey Marchy http://www.urbanjacksonville.info/?p=2629 Google PowerMeter Daily View After hounding JEA for a couple days, I convinced them to let me join the Google PowerMeter pilot. (Woo Hoo!) For more on what PowerMeter is you can read Google and JEA Team up for Google PowerMeter, but essentially:
PowerMeter allows you to get better information about how you use energy and what you can do to be more efficient. You can use PowerMeter to reduce your energy bills and carbon footprint by making smart decisions about your energy use.
There was only one condition to my joining the program. I promised JEA I would write about my experiences with PowerMeter and keep what I write on a positive note. Easy. This is a great opportunity to position Jacksonville and JEA as a progressive city and energy provider, respectively. I'll be using my posts on PowerMeter do that. [Photo removed at the request of JEA]

Details about the JEA Pilot

The program is limited to select JEA employees and Jacksonville residents. A JEA press release from May 20th says:
After testing this pilot program with its employees and a very small number of customers, JEA hopes to be able to offer this service to more of its customers next year, depending upon the results of the pilot program. Customers can not enroll in the Google PowerMeter Program at this time. Source: JEA and Google Partner for Google PowerMeter Pilot Program
I don't know how many people are in the pilot program, but it's a very small number. The Green Bay Press Gazette reports there are about 50 people in the Wisconsin pilot, so I assume there are about that many in the Jacksonville pilot. Once JEA decides to roll this out city wide, I'm thinking it will be pretty simple. No technician came to my house to twiddle with my meter and I didn't go Downtown to the JEA offices. I sent them my email address and clicked a button. The only requirement was a Google account, that's it. Google PowerMeter Daily View My energy consumption for Thursday and Friday last week

Just the Beginning

As I get into Google PowerMeter I'll post more updates. I'm thinking about using the weekend as an opportunity to post about PowerMeter, but we'll see how things go. Leave questions if you have any and I'll get them answered. ]]> At the request of JEA the content of this post has been removed while they review the Terms of Service. They want to make sure everyone is aware of Google’s terms so we don’t jeopardize the program in any way. I hope to have the post back up shortly so everyone can read about this amazing opportunity for the city.

]]> http://www.urbanjacksonville.info/2009/06/08/ive-joined-the-jea-google-powermeter-pilot/feed/ 10 Google and JEA Team up for Google PowerMeter http://www.urbanjacksonville.info/2009/05/20/google-and-jea-team-up-for-google-power-meter/ http://www.urbanjacksonville.info/2009/05/20/google-and-jea-team-up-for-google-power-meter/#comments Wed, 20 May 2009 11:28:10 +0000 Joey Marchy http://www.urbanjacksonville.info/?p=2301 PowerMeter screenshot

I actually did a fist pump today when I saw JEA was on the list of Google’s very first PowerMeter partners. The blog post Energized about our first Google PowerMeter partners explains:

Our initial partners include utilities with millions of customers as well as smaller ones. They are rural and urban, privately held and municipally run. Some are in the United States, others in Canada and India. They all have one thing in common — a desire to serve their customers by providing access to detailed information that helps save energy and money. For now, Google PowerMeter is only available to a limited group of customers, but we plan to expand our roll out later this year. Our utility partners are leading the charge to make the electricity grid smarter and we look forward to working with them and others.

  • San Diego Gas & Electric® (California)
  • TXU Energy (Texas)
  • JEA (Florida)
  • Reliance Energy (India)
  • Wisconsin Public Service Corporation (Wisconsin)
  • White River Valley Electric Cooperative (Missouri)
  • Toronto Hydro–Electric System Limited (Canada)
  • Glasgow EPB (Kentucky)

Google PowerMeter receives information from utility smart meters and energy management devices and provides customers with access to their home electricity consumption right on their personal iGoogle homepage. We are currently testing Google PowerMeter with a number of utilities and plan to expand our rollout later this year.

PowerMeter allows you to get better information about how you use energy and what you can do to be more efficient. You can use PowerMeter to reduce your energy bills and carbon footprint by making smart decisions about your energy use.

I have been talking endlessly this week about how Jacksonville needs to find a way to distinguish itself regionally and nationally as a leader. I’ve said that we need to do something, create something or implement something that causes people to sit up and take notice. Something that makes people say “wow, that’s pretty cool”. This could be the thing.

Just over the past two hours JEA (and Jacksonville) have been mentioned by ReadWriteWeb, Engadget and Gizmodo.

This news is so fresh JEA has not even written a press release for it. You heard it here first.

Google PowerMeter resources and links
Google PowerMeter FAQs

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