Physical Prototyping of an On-Outlet Power-Consumption Display

摘要

Less than a year ago, the tsunami in Japan reminded us what we like to forget: how dangerous producing electricity can be. In the Western world, electricity has become such an omnipresent source of power that most of us think of it only when the monthly bill needs to be paid or our cellphone battery dies. But this is changing. During the past few years, a series of commercial products and research projects have addressed the visibility problem of power consumption through various types of displays and artifacts. Power suppliers equip more of their clients' households with smart meters, which on the one hand allows better management of the smart-grid, and on the other hand enables all sorts of visualizations.