forget.

These whole-home meters and monitors may be one of the most important domestic energy conservation measures of the current age, especially once they fall in price, can be standardized and are installed in all new homes.

Next-Gen Monitoring

In keeping with the ongoing trend of sharing, social media and constant connectivity, dashboard monitor manufacturers are considering tying their top-end systems into the Internet in intriguing ways.

Trial runs in college dormitories have shown that the online generation responds very well to competitive statistics: by publishing everyone's energy usage on a single web page, students are encouraged to use less and compete to see who is "greenest". Automated social media messaging can stimulate similar competition between sites, which could lead to a leaderboard of the most efficient dorms across the country.

And what if you could monitor your home's energy use from your smart phone or tablet computer? You could spot when everyone's out and lower the heating, do the laundry you remembered to load but forgot to start and receive warnings or notifications of important (or dangerous) events.

Some companies are even toying with the idea of sharing data between systems so that home monitors will be able to tell you if the Joneses are using more or less electricity than you. There are, however, privacy issues with such setups!