Our friends at Google are constantly creating services that make our lives better and more manageable. Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google, has been working on creating a tool, Google Powermeter, for Google users to track their electricity consumption via their iGoogle homepage.

While some conspiracy theorists might think this is just another way for “big brother” to keep tabs on all that we do. I politely disagree. This is a non-invasive means for people to track their electricity consumption for personal monitoring and improvement. I mean, if “big brother” really wanted to keep tabs on your electrical consumption they would find a way that is not voluntary and they would not be telling you about it.

So, conspiracy theories aside, this is a great tool soon to be offered by Google that will give everyone the ability to become personally accountable for the electricity that they consume. There is another part to this equation and that is the smart meter. The Obama administration, as part of its stimulus package, has pledged over the next three years to upgrade 40 million homes with these smart meters.

As Lord Kelvin said, “If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it.”

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