The Nielsen Rating for energy

By Molly Webb, Head of Smart Technologies, The Climate Group.

AlertMe (read our case study) has created a UK 'Swingometer' that compares an individual household's current energy usage with the same household's average usage. In other words, it answers the question, am I doing better at saving energy than I was last week?

 Here's what it looks like: 

They've also shown UK household's Christmas holiday usage here.

What this means is that they can track 'before and after' any event in a household, like the Nielsen rating does for media. As Nielsen asks on their website 'How do you adapt to the dynamically changing marketplace in advance of your competitors?' When we have better, real time energy information, we'll be able to answer the same question about energy. Businesses will be able to provide a whole range of energy-saving services to consumers.

What real time information would be useful for decision makers (in business or government) to track? I'd welcome your ideas...