In 2009, OPOWER began sending report cards home with consumers of the private utilities Xcel Energy and National Grid. It also works with additional private utilities, several municipal utilities and energy-buying cooperatives around the country.
A handful of consumers have opted out, citing Big Brother concerns familiar to those who have followed utilities’ efforts to introduce smart meters; but, overall, there seems to be little downside to being graded. Of course, on the path to real carbon reductions, the report card will have to learn to play well with other energy-efficiency technologies — and so will consumers.
I love this. One of the big issues with our monstrous energy consumption is that we simply have no idea how we stack up against our friends, neighbors, etc.
As soon as we know how we compare, people will be stimulated to do better (at least I hope).