SUBSCRIBE TO TMCnet
TMCnet - World's Largest Communications and Technology Community

CHANNEL BY TOPICS


QUICK LINKS




Now the Meter Feeds You-With Information, Not Coins
Green Technology Featured Articles
December 19, 2012

Now the Meter Feeds You-With Information, Not Coins

By Cheryl Kaften
TMCnet Contributor

Last week, Live Easy Technologies, a Davie, Florida-based product development company that specializes in Bluetooth and RF designs, posted a do-it-yourself announcement on the Indiegogo.com crowdfunding platform—and proceeded to raise more than $33,000 within days from online investors for its innovative MeterPlug (with more than a month of exposure still to go).


Launched in 2008, San Francisco-based Indiegogo is a site that enables small entrepreneurs, artists, and not-for-profits to launch campaigns from every country around the world. With millions of dollars distributed globally each week across the site, Indiegogo is democratizing the way people raise funds.

 

Image via Live Easy Technologies

Of course, the product or project has to excite the imagination of visitors to the site and motivate them to invest their own money. MeterPlug meets those marketing criteria. Better yet, it actually saves money for buyers, because MeterPlug, along with its smartphone app, acts as an interface between an electrical outlet and any appliance or device——and measures the electricity being used by the moment and by the hour.

The MeterPlug App will not only tell you how much actual money an appliance is costing you when it is fully operational, but also how much it's costing you when it’s on standby.

The MeterPlug App downloads the actual cost of electricity, based on surveyed and averaged electricity costs in the United States and internationally. The MeterPlug App enables users to turn power on or off to appliances connected to it. MeterPlug also detects and turns off appliances that are consuming “vampire power” (standby consumption)—or can turn off an appliance if you leave a room.

"While testing the MeterPlug, we found that our new 50-inch LED TV consumes $18.25 per year——just in standby mode alone. MeterPlug will give consumers access to this type of information directly, allowing them to conserve energy & the dollars in their pockets," said Jimmy Buchheim, founder, Live Easy Technologies.

The MeterPlug offers the following features and benefits:

  • Lower Electricity Bills – MeterPlug enables consumers to identify their most expensive appliances–helping to calculate the best times to run appliances and for how long. A user can set up an alert when a specific device's running cost goes over a pre-selected amount——enjoying the ability to execute functions, such as turning off a portable heating device once it hits more than a dollar a per day.
  • Real-Time Consumption Information – The MeterPlug App displays live dollar consumption of a connected appliance, monitoring how much appliances are costing per hour, day, week, month and year in actual electricity costs.
  • Remote Controls – The MeterPlug can turn on and off any appliance connected by using Bluetooth-enabled proximity detection. The function controls appliances by turning them off when a user walks away and on when the user returns to a room.
  • Manage "Vampire Power" – MeterPlug addresses the effects of Vampire Power–the electricity that appliances "suck up," even while the power switch is off. By enabling The Vampire Power Shield with the smartphone app, users can program an automatic turn-off function for appliances consuming power while in sleep mode.

The product will be shown at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January. "I encourage everyone to stop by our booth for a hands-on demo," said Buchheim. "The most rewarding part about creating the MeterPlug is that we're not only helping people, but also the environment by creating an easy-to-use device that will lessen our contribution to the human carbon footprint."

Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO Miami 2013, Jan 29- Feb. 1 in Miami, Florida.  Stay in touch with everything happening at ITEXPO (News - Alert). Follow us on Twitter.




Edited by Brooke Neuman


Green Technology Related Articles






Technology Marketing Corporation

2 Trap Falls Road Suite 106, Shelton, CT 06484 USA
Ph: +1-203-852-6800, 800-243-6002

General comments: [email protected].
Comments about this site: [email protected].

STAY CURRENT YOUR WAY

© 2024 Technology Marketing Corporation. All rights reserved | Privacy Policy