Energy-Saving News

Google Drops Powermeter; Future Not Bright For Android@Home

Posted on 08. Jun, 2011 by Ross in New Technologies, North America

Two years after announcing the launch of Powermeter - touted as the Google Analytics of home energy use - Google have quietly and surprisingly dumped development of the Powermeter API.

At a time when Google is making some big investments in renewable energy (most recently in windfarms), home automation and innovative methods to green their data centres, the ninja-like deprecation of the Powermeter API will raise a few eyebrows, especially amongst existing partners.

The announcement was made as part of a ’spring cleaning exercise’ at Google, with 11 different APIs all being deprecated or shut down at once.

The Powermeter API won’t be being turned off: Google are just ceasing development on the project. Rather than having already attained perfection though, the Powermeter system is still in it’s infancy - a fact acknowledged on it’s official Google Code page:

The PowerMeter API is still in the early stages of development, and it may change very quickly as we work to make it better, more powerful, and more efficient.

An inability to sign up enough partners to use Powermeter with their smart metering is doubtless the reason that Google have ditched the API’s development (and it can be assumed that the core Powermeter system will probably be left alone too). Given the fact that the smart meter market has barely begun to roll out yet, giving up at this stage seems a little premature.

Most importantly, however, the announcement pours cold water all over the newly-announced Android@Home project. The newly-announced pet project of Google is designed to enable home automation to be run from an Android phone, but it doesn’t use any existing protocols such as Zigbee which are already compatible with smart meters. Instead, Google want to re-invent to wheel with their own system and will look to sign up partners along the way just as they hoped to do with Powermeter.

Just how willing companies will be to throw away existing developments to chase after Google’s vision will be debatable, and Google’s willingness to ditch it’s previous smart grid child after just a couple of years will make smart tech companies even less likely to commit to Google’s home-automation-handset vision. Google might be wiser to see how it can work with emerging technologies, rather than attempt to dictate the terms of engagement.

Related posts:

1. Google To Make Solar Thermal Power Cheaper Than Coal
2. Brighter Future For Interoperable Smart Meters And Energy Efficient Appliances
3. What Is The Carbon Footprint Of A Google Search?
4. Microsoft Hohm + Smart Meter = Energy Savings?
5. Why The Hydrogen Future Needs Electric Cars

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Tags: google