October 19, 2015
These days, being green and being smart don’t have to be mutually exclusive, it’s as easy as using any other app on your smartphone. There’s a slew of cool applications that can help track and manage home energy use, and even connect to a smart thermostat, so you can start conserving energy right away!
These apps can show you your energy consumption patterns and what to do about them:
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This free app was introduced during the Department of Energy’s 2012 “Apps for Energy” challenge and pulls stats from utility providers to show your electricity consumption over time. This nifty tool helps you pinpoint energy costs, includes pointers for reducing your carbon footprint, as well as comparisons with other homeowners for perspective.
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This convenient $0.99 app is available on all smartphone OS platforms, making it highly versatile and accessible. With a simple, uncluttered layout, it shows your electricity or gas usage and can bundle the data into an Excel notebook file, so that you can be inspired to reduce consumption.
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The Wiser Energy Management System is another free app that can translate your energy usage data into a user-friendly format. Another contender in the “Apps for Energy” challenge, the Wiser EMS uses infographics and illustrations that can help save you money and make wiser choices about home energy use.
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This handy watt-and-cost calculator runs across all OS platforms for smartphones and can actually calculate costs of energy consumption in kilowatt hours, as well as carbon emissions. It can give you estimated electricity usage costs per day, week or month for electric equipment and appliances, so you can compare and cut down your utility bills.
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This app was released as a companion to Nest Learning Thermostats and lets you change temperature settings from your smart device, no matter where you are or when you intend to get home. The thermostat’s learning system adapts to your needs and moods, as well as temperatures according to time of day and season, which you can conveniently toggle through the app.
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If you have an Ecobee Smart Thermostat installed, this app displays the same interface as the thermostat screen for user-friendly navigation. You can remotely use it to view your home’s energy use in the form of charted reports, change temperature settings, and save schedules according to your daily routines.
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This app provides total connection; it runs across all OS platforms and can be used to control various thermostats such as the Honeywell WiFi thermostat, Prestige, and EConnect. It gives you control over your energy usage wherever you are.
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This $0.99 iTunes app is recommended by various eco-focus websites, and helps you understand which of your home appliances consume the highest energy, by taking some personal inputs and calculating your average monthly energy consumption costs.
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This free iTunes app compares the energy efficiency of various buildings in a specific area, which helps real estate investors, homeowners and professionals compare their building’s energy efficiency with others. The process is simple – enter an address and it will display the building’s Energy Star score and energy use.
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Designed for use with iPhones and Android devices, this free app helps you gather information about the light bulbs you use in your home and suggests energy-efficient alternatives. It’s very user-friendly and the process of finding low-cost and environmentally friendly light bulbs is quick, since the app suggests where to buy them.
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This free iTunes app looks for the lowest prices for gas within a specific area, so you can save on fuel costs when you’re traveling between work and home.