Energy monitoring lands on phones with Plogg-Blu

By SmartPlanet on 04 August 2008, 11:21am

Ever wanted to know how much electricity your other half's huge home entertainment system is consuming? Well, a new gadget means you can use your phone to see how many pennies that 42 inch plasma is costing you -- and you can even switch the telly off remotely if you're feeling impish.

The two-part gizmo is dubbed the Plogg-Blu. It uses an adapter (pictured above right) that goes in the plug socket of the devices you want to measure, and wirelessly sends the data to your mobile and computer. Unlike the energy monitors we've tested before on SmartPlanet, it measures one set of devices (TV, DVD player and Wii, for example) rather than you home's entire electricity usage.

To show how much cash and electricity you're burning, the Plogg-Blu wirelessly hooks up to any Bluetooth-equipped Windows PCs, Windows Mobile (pictured above left) and Series 60 phones. Once the energy consumption data is on your computer, you can geek your heart out with charts on Plogg's supplied software and export the results to Excel.

As well as the cute mobile phone twist, the Plogg-Blu offers the useful and potentially very mischievous ability to remotely switch off the plug that's being monitored.

Frankly, the Plogg-Blu ain't cheap at £65 and it's going to be more useful for businesses than individuals, plus a cheap alternative without the frills would be a £13 watt meter. But it is a sign that the day your web browser tells you how much electricity your home's using isn't that far off.

If you're looking for a gadget that can monitor your home's entire electricity usage and offload the results to your PC, take a peek at the Wattson (review).