IocTober Day 22 - Household power-use monitoring

We’re creating an IoT solution for every day of “IocTober”.

First today, a warning: Electrons are our helpful friends. But only in small quantities. By the truckload, as found in our mains wiring, they can be Very Unfriendly Indeed. If you’re not a licensed electrical technician, don’t touch that stuff!

Fortunately, non invasive power monitoring sensors are inexpensive. You can get versions that plug into power points, or which inductively measure current passing through your wires, without any need to alter any wiring.

The question that often arises when the electricity bill arrives is “how did we use so much power?!” - so measuring the power use on each circuit, or appliance is the first step to working out how to manage your consumption.

I’ve already fitted low power LED lighting to most of my office, the questions that face me now are “how much power do those idle 3D printers use?” and “whoops, I left a light on overnight, what did that cost me (and the planet)?”.