It is important to be able to measure costs in order to reduce them. One has to know what to optimize, before choosing technologies and establishing a budget. And this holds true, under different processes, for companies as well as individuals or families. The following guide seeks to help you measure your domestic or industrial energy consumption.

Device categories

According to official energy consumption statistics, most of the energy consumed by individuals and companies is used for heating and to change temperature, of places or single items. All technologies which cause great variations in heat also cause the most important energy costs. Lighting is next, multimedia appliances such as computers, television, or sound systems, follow, and transport should also be considered.

As we will see, it is important to estimate the entire energy consumption of a household or company before defining an energy budget. We will evaluate solutions to reduce consumption for each category in the section about "Reducing costs".

How to measure energy

Energy is generally measured as kilojoules, or "kilowatt hours" (we recommend measuring them over a year) which should be visible on bills, or available from energy providers. Appliances such as boilers, also, come with monitoring equipment, allowing energy companies to perform their own measurements. You should collect information from these sources, as detailed as possible, about your own energy consumption over a year in order to define improvements which will meet your personal needs. See the following Kilojoules to Kilowatts x hours converter to help you calculate your yearly energy consumption.

Google Powermeter

Google Powermeter is a simple and free energy monitoring software, which can be used to watch the energy consumption of one's appliances, even remotely over the Internet. It is compatible with available measurement tools and devices, namely, AlertMe and TED Electricity, and can be adapted to other energy meters.

One of its advantages is that it is transparent to the end user, as opposed to similar applications which send data exclusively to the network provider. A free, reliable, fast, portable way to collect information about energy consumption, Google Powermeter is an important effort to define standards for energy and smart grid technologies.