Ask HN: Would people want to know when their appliances/devices are on?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4605459

by jcoleh • 14 years ago

2 4 14 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

We've been working on a project and we've stumbled across this question. Do you think people would want to consume detailed information about when their specific appliances or devices are on in their home. Laundry, cooling, dishwasher, lights, etc... What are some use cases? We have thought about: AC is on when your gone, left the fridge open, kids are watching TV. Let me know what you think!?

mchannon• 14 years ago

Most Americans don't care about their electric bill for more than a few minutes every month (when they open it to pay it). Even egregious whoopsies like leaving the fridge open or the windows open don't usually add up to a large financial penalty.

A whole-house current draw might be a useful number to make available, but without incentivizing or gamifying it beyond trying to turn a $100/mo. bill into a $75/mo. bill, getting traction is going to be especially challenging.

The "kill-a-watt" meter is kinda neat for figuring usage out- is that the same functionality you were considering?

jcoleh• 14 years ago

We're hoping to connect devices like the Kill-a-watt to people's smart phones. Gamification is totally in the mix!

We are trying to figure out if just knowing if something is on or off (not the energy usage) could be valuable if we could do this for the whole house.

moonsoonmenu• 14 years ago

I think if asked people will say "I don't really need to know when my appliances are on or off"...however, they would be interested in spending maybe a few extra bucks a month to know if they are losing tons of money on appliances and if they can somehow reduce those costs with perhaps recommendations, especially if maybe you show them how much money you can save them first and then charge for recommendations and a monthly rate for future tracking ;)

27182818284• 14 years ago

Not really, no. Those who did really care probably already bought a couple of Kill-a-watts or similar home measurement devices.

Ask HN: Would people want to know when their appliances/devices are on?

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