The Bridge: some exciting updates from Current Cost

As many SmartNow customers are aware, Google has recently announced that Google PowerMeter will be shut down as of 16 September.

In our previous blog we told you that Current Cost have been busy adding new features and functionality to my.currentcost.com which will result in the portal being even more powerful than Google PowerMeter.

Current Cost has released a short video to guide you through some of the updates that have already been made. These include the ability to:

- Register multiple Bridges to the same account and to individually name each Bridge

- Name your location

- Make your Bridge public or private in order to share you data. Clicking the "share" button brings up a page which is accessible to anyone on the internet. There are various options to embed graphs on your own blog/website etc.

To view the video please click here: http://currentcost.posterous.com/mycurrentcostcom-new-features

We will keep you posted on these exciting developments.

For further information on how the Bridge and the EnviR home energy monitor can enable you to reduce your energy consumption and slash your power bills visit www.smartnow.com.au

Google PowerMeter to Close: the Latest News

This weekend Google announced that they are to close Google PowerMeter as of 16 September. Although we were aware that Google wouldn't be developing the software any longer, we were surprised to learn that the application is to be closed completely.

Although this will come as disappointing news to users of the Bridge who currently upload their information to Google PowerMeter, we actually have some positive news to report.

The Current Cost portal at http://my.currentcost.com (the place the Bridge sends it's data to prior to Google PowerMeter) is undergoing extensive and exciting upgrades that will be rolled out over the coming weeks and months. We can't reveal too much right now but we will post more info as soon as we can.

We are confident that you will find that the new features will make my.currentcost.com considerably more useful and powerful than Google PowerMeter.

In the meantime the Bridge can still be used with Google PowerMeter and the USB cable is available on our website which can be used with various different software options. The EnviR home energy monitor is a fantastic tool for managing your energy consumption and slashing your power bill, however you choose to upload your data.

We will release further information as soon as we have it so keep checking www.smartnow.com.au for further updates or visit our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/SmartNow/114000321953472

Another day; another price increase!

Electricity users in New South Wales are facing yet another price increase. The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) says electricity prices for the average NSW resident will increase by 17.6 per cent by July.

This will come as very distressing news for many households who are already struggling to pay huge power bills.

The article quotes NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell telling of a family struggling with a $1400 power bill for a four-bedroom home. Assuming this is a quarterly bill and that they are being billed at $0.20 per kilowatt hour this equates to approximately 75 kilowatt hours per day - an outrageously high consumption of power.

There is no reason why a four-bedroom house should receive a $1400 power bill - there must be some serious wastage going on here, which if identified could enable the family to make huge savings. We have monitored large, inefficient houses in Perth who are operating pool pumps etc and are using around 50 kilowatt hours per day.

With some common sense and an EnviR home energy monitor a family with a bill as high as this should be able to reduce their usage down to at least 50 kilowatt hours per day. They could potentially cut their power bill by around one third which roughly equates to a saving of $1800 per year.

We can't control the price of electricity, unfortunately, but we can certainly control how much of it we are consuming.

To read the full article click here: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/04/14/3191670.htm?section=justin

For more information on the EnviR home energy monitor visit www.smartnow.com.au.

The Green Thing

We’ve just come across a thought provoking piece on being green and whether it is really such a “new” idea. It makes for some interesting reading and has got us feeling rather nostalgic!

In the line at the store, the cashier told the older woman that plastic bags weren’t good for the environment. The woman apologized to her and explained, “We didn’t have the green thing back in my day.”

That’s right, they didn’t have the green thing in her day. Back then, they returned their milk bottles, Coke bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, using the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled.

But they didn’t have the green thing back her day.

In her day, they walked up stairs, because they didn’t have an escalator in every store and office building. They walked to the grocery store and didn’t climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time they had to go two blocks.

But she’s right. They didn’t have the green thing in her day.

Back then, they washed the baby’s diapers because they didn’t have the throw-away kind. They dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts – wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.

But that old lady is right, they didn’t have the green thing back in her day.

Back then, they had one TV, or radio, in the house – not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a pizza dish, not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen, they blended and stirred by hand because they didn’t have electric machines to do everything for you. When they packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, they used wadded up newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.

Back then, they didn’t fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. They used a push mower that ran on human power. They exercised by working so they didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But she’s right, they didn’t have the green thing back then.

They drank from a fountain when they were thirsty, instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time they had a drink of water. They refilled pens with ink, instead of buying a new pen, and they replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.

But they didn’t have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar and kids rode their bikes to school or rode the school bus, instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. They had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And they didn’t need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.

But that old lady is right. They didn’t have the green thing back in her day.

Author unknown.

www.smartnow.com.au

Clocks go back; bills go up!

Daylight Saving ended in five states across Australia this weekend, signalling the official end to the summer. As cooler weather begins to set in, so power bills begin to rise.

Even if you're not bracing yourself for a Melbourne winter as we are at SmartNow HQ there are many factors besides just heating your home which can lead to a shock when your next bill comes in.

As the days get shorter many of us will spend more time indoors watching television and keeping the lights on. Children who may have played outside after school will be coming home and switching on the games console instead.

Now is a great time to think about what you could do to cut down power use in your home - invest in some LED downlighters, switch to energy efficient bulbs or think about how to improve your home's insulation.

Start monitoring exactly how much power you are using and how much it is costing you with a Current Cost EnviR from SmartNow. This will allow you to take control of how much you are spending and is a great way to teach kids about saving energy.

For more information visit: www.smartnow.com.au.

Being green shouldn't stop at home

We've come across an interesting article this week which shows that being green shouldn't stop at home.

The Age reported how Hilton Hotel worker, Benjamin Grimshaw, from Sydney has been nominated for a WWF Earth Hour Award having spearheaded a successful environmental policy at the hotel.

One of his first steps was to install 744 LED light bulbs in the hotel's guest corridors which is saving the hotel $30,000 a year and has reduced energy requirements by 35% in those areas.

Having formed an environmental committee, Grimshaw has also helped to cut water use by 2.3 per cent by installing sensors and restrictors in hotel bathrooms and has decreased the hotel's per capita energy use by 6.5 per cent.

The Earth Hour Award nomination is a sure indication that green initiatives in the work place are taken seriously and can reap benefits for the individual as well as for the business and the environment.

To read the full article click here: http://www.theage.com.au/environment/earth-hour/tiny-footprint-in-the-corridor-20110325-1c9f0.html

To learn how to monitor how much energy your home or workplace is consuming visit: www.smartnow.com.au.

Cool down your house and save energy

The temperature is rising all over Australia and it seems the only option is to crank up the air conditioning as high as it'll go, but there are many other ways to cool your house down which use far less energy and won't leave you with a huge power bill.

Property journalist Caroline Boyd has come up with some excellent tips to cool down your house in what's shaping up to be a scorching hot summer: http://theage.domain.com.au/blogs/talking-property/tips-to-cool-down-the-house/20110201-1abbq.html.

You would also be wise to invest in a Current Cost EnviR from SmartNow. You'll be able to see how much energy you're using in real time, and what it's costing you, to ensure that you're not faced with a colossal energy bill at the end of the season.

Visit our online store and receive free shipping on orders over $50: http://www.smartnow.com.au/store.

New Zealand school installs EnviR and Google PowerMeter to go green and make savings!

A school in Khandallah, New Zealand has become the first school in the world to install Google PowerMeter to monitor energy use and save money.

Cashmere Avenue Primary School has already identified 2kW of energy use which can easily be cut, representing a saving of around $1500 a year. This is a valuable reinvestment opportunity at a time when schools’ budgets are stretched to the limit.

Read more here: http://katrinashanks.co.nz/index.php?/archives/383-Cashmere-Ave-Primary-School-Goes-Green-to-Help-out-Blue.html

At SmartNow we are currently developing our own not-for-profit venture: the SmartNow School Energy Education Program. To learn more about this project to increase energy efficiency and provoke interest in sustainability in schools click here: http://www.smartnow.com.au/schools.php

Current Cost Envi on it's way to Australia!

The first Current Cost Envi Real-Time Energy Monitors are about to arrive in Australia!

Over 600,000 of these amazing monitors have been installed in homes in the UK, and now it's the turn of Australia and New Zealand! As you can tell, we're rather excited about the launch. The monitors will be available from www.SmartNow.com.au as of 2nd November 2009.

These devices can save the average Australian household 15 - 30% of their electricity bills... assuming the average Australian household uses 7000 KWh per year, and that one KWh costs $0.19, that's an amazing $200 - $400 saving each year...

...and that's before the next electricity price rise....

Come visit us at www.SmartNow.com.au to see for yourself!

SmartNow Australia - New Zealand

Welcome to the SmartNow Blog!

This Blog is going to be all about how to reduce your power bills by making simple savings. However, first of all, we really need to tell you about who we are and what we do, so that will be the topic of the first post...

SmartNow is the Australian Importer and Distributor of the Current Cost range of energy saving devices, including the Current Cost Envi, and we're now open for business in Australia and New Zealand at www.SmartNow.com.au

Over 600,000 of these amazing products have been installed in homes in the UK. They are Real Time Displays - simply, they sit on your desk, or in your kitchen, or on the table beside the front door, and tell you how much electricity you are using and how much money you are spending!

It is estimated that 8% of Australia's electricity is wasted by devices left on standby - the Current Cost Envi can help you track down and eliminate these "Vampire" appliances, and help you understand where you are using your power.

It also enables you to ensure that everything is turned off as you leave the house - no more coming home to discover lights, aircon, heating, irons and hairstraighteners left on.

This saves you money, saves the environment (Australia's power generation is largely dependent on very polluting brown coal power stations), and makes sure that those hairstraighteners are not going to set fire to the carpet.
For more information, please see www.SmartNow.com.au