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Nice blog post Amin, I like the example, its really clear, definitely a way to present the information in a interesting way, yes interested in seeing how we can push this forward.

 Hello Amin, what do you think of this procedure of creating and appliance list and working out estimated savings: http://openenergymonitor.org/emon/sustainable-energy/electricity-audit-and-savings-case-study

I think this is the kind of information we need to be able to get at, the information thats needed for creating action points. 

Although maybe the ultimate energy monitor might arrive at this list automatically via appliance inference or per appliance monitoring its either a very difficult problem or very expensive, maybe its just easier to do it manually in the meantime..until the hard problem is fixed - or that said maybe the mental engagement that you get from sitting down and going through the procedure of creating the list is important if your going to get anyware..

 I can see a benefit in designing the process to be really nice, so maybe a well designed application that will bring both the manually built appliance list and the energy monitoring visualisation together in a beneficial way.

What do you think?

about the monitoring of appliances, there is an nice product that called "plugwise" and makes simular dashboards like emoncms for every device that's connected to and plugwise "Circles" (current monitors).  But it's very expencive a starterkit cost about 300 euro. and you can monitor only sockets with that..

So until there is an afforable^*1 way to monitor single applicances I will do it manualy.

^*1 you can also made an jeenode v6 and an CT sensor in a small kit for this but it will also be expensive..about 30 euro for each socket/applicance.

 hey alco,

plugwise is a product of ELV (elv.de), they make other cheaper plug monitors like this one. The RFM12B module can decode their readings with some tinkering in the code (JCW from jeelabs and other could do it)

For 20 EUR a piece it's a sweet deal.

 Hey Tryst,

well you're right in your approach of making small steps at a time and gaining momentum. It's better to do it manually until we have a fully automated solution.

But I believe the automated solution is not that hard after all. I'll take my flat as an example:

I have an emonTx with 3 CTs:

1. Total consumption
2. Stove and oven
3. Washing machine

All I need it to add a wireless measuring plug to the fridge, then I'm all set for a fully automated solution.

I think this applies to many users as well. So if we make a few tweaks to the code you already have so that it fetches data directly from feeds, then this would be a hige leap (at least for me).

Another thing: households are complicated to survey, but small shops (bakeries, cafes, office builldings) have different wiring diagrams than most houses. By using a few CT's on each sub-circuit (even a few emonTx's make sense) and by fetching data from the feeds directly to the code you're referring to, we already have something.

What do you think?

Yes your quite right

One idea that came to mind is that we have a wizard in emoncms to create the appliance list, If your just monitoring one circuit you can assign the whole list to that one CT.

But if your measuring sub circuits, say you have 5 lights on sub circuit 1 you could assign the CT on that sub circuit to the 5 lights in the list and be able to cross reference your model a little better.

So maybe there is a scale between fully manual and fully automatic.

We need a open source plug based monitor that interfaces with the system, that would be great! :)

 Is there a way to measure the time one feed value is higher than a defined value?

The plug would be tricky because it's directly connected to mains (safety concerns). Maybe we could hack the hexaplugs :)

I also remember that Alex (a member here) made such a plug.