4 tech tools that take some of the bite out of your electric bill

It's always a pain when your power bill is higher than you want it to be, and if you've ever been this close to tearing your hair out over the charges, you're likely not alone. The Economist reported that the world consumed about 15 terawatts of power in 2008 and would consume 30 terawatts by 2050, so chances are that a lot of other people know what it's like to almost have a heart attack when they have to pay for it. (If you're curious, a terawatt equals 1 million watts — a whole lotta lightbulbs!)

When it comes to domestic power consumption, there've always been ways to lower costs, but modern technology has created tools that can keep you from going into cardiac arrest when the electric bill comes. They represent a growing field of gadgets and apps that should come in handy.

1. Smart Thermostat
A number of companies offer devices that let you analyze and control your energy use. Canadian-based ecobee's Smart Thermostat lets you control home energy use by touching the device's LCD screen or adjusting it remotely through a web portal linked wirelessly to the thermostat. Taking a vacation? Before you go, you can program the thermostat to set the temperature days in advance. And of course you can also program temperature in advance when you're staying put.

The device's screen features buttons for custom management. One button puts your home into energy conservation mode; another gives you five-day weather forecasts. You can manage multiple thermostats remotely from the web portal and view performance reports for your HVAC system. Ecobee also offers Smart Thermostat for free on the iPhone and iPod touch if you've already got the system.

2. The Energy Detective
Thanks to the devices and software in The Energy Detective's (TED) home electricity monitoring series from Energy, Inc., you can view electricity use in real time in dollar and kilowatt form, so you'll know exactly how much things cost as your power runs. TED shows you charts, graphs, and trends of usage. You install the devices in your home's breaker panel.

The TED 5000 series of monitors store up to 10 years' worth of consumption data, and you can view the data on your mobile devices if you install the app for it. You can also track the energy use of an individual appliance. The manufacturer claims an electricity monitor will save you 8 to 15 percent off your electric bill. Energy, Inc., offers a whole host of third party apps for the web and mobile devices, most of which are free. There's People Power (download People Power for iOS or Android), TED-O-Meter (download TED-O-Meter for iOS), Mirawatt T5K (download Mirawatt T5K for iOS), iTED (download iTED for iOS or Android), AndTED (download AndTED for Android), and TEDisplay (download TEDisplay for HP/Palm webOS).
 
3. MyHome
Control4 takes things to the next level. With its technology, energy management's just one piece of a much larger package. You get an operating system that turns your residence into a smart home.

You'll not only control your power and temperature but also an array of home automation modules, including your appliances, home theater, and property security. The Control4 MyHome app (download MyHome for iPad, iPhone, or Windows PC, and Android is in beta testing) interfaces with the smart home system to let you adjust the temperature from the central device. You can also turn appliances on and off, including room lights.

4. Home Base
EnergyHub touts its Home Base device as command central for saving energy. You don't need a smart meter to use it, but if you have one, it'll give you a more complete picture of your power use. Just like Control4's products, Home Base lets you program your home's temperature; additional hardware gives you the ability to remote control appliances.

For example, after you plug in an appliance to a special EnergyHub socket, you've linked it up to Home Base and can now control it and view its energy consumption. A special power strip, wireless thermostat, and heavy-duty controller (for bigger appliances like water heaters) complete the setup. You can also download the right apps to monitor everything from the web or your smartphone.

They might be giants (or at least… they were)
Although this type of technology isn't new (after all, the TED 1000 series debuted back in 2004), it's likely refreshing to technophiles to see that the energy monitoring market is still relatively healthy, especially after recent setbacks. Google announced interest in helping people understand home energy use in February 2009, rolling out Google Power Meter soon after. However, Google did an about-face in June and announced that the web tool would be retired this month because customers weren't as enthusiastic about it as expected.

Unfortunately, Google's not alone. Microsoft announced in June that it was discontinuing its Microsoft Home service effective May 31, 2012. The reason? Slow market adoption.

But there is a bright spot somewhere in the realm of technology titans. Cisco announced in August that it was leaving the home energy market too — a bummer, for sure — but that it would stay involved in smart energy in some capacity. The company's hosting the Global Energy Summit on September 27, so it appears that there's still some interest.

For now, smart energy enthusiasts should look to smaller companies who've made the market their niche. Groups like ecobee, EnergyHub, Control4, and Energy, Inc., seem to have things covered quite nicely.

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