Sense Energy Monitor (https://sense.com) is installed right in your main electrical box and can identify the energy consumption of appliances in your home. It connects to your phone app anywhere in the world via your home’s WiFi and internet connection. Two clamps with sensors are placed around the main wires coming into the home, and a breaker is added to power the device. If you’re not comfortable opening your electrical box, I would recommend having a licensed electrician assist with the installation. 

It can take a couple of weeks for the device to identify various appliances and learn your energy consumption habits, in the meantime you’re able to monitor usage in real-time via the app. Once your devices have been identified, the system will track usage and will show you which devices are running at any given time, how much power they’re consuming and how often and long they’ve been in use. 

A big benefit of monitoring household energy usage is to create awareness which encourages users to turn off devices that aren’t in use. You can set goals right in the app and compare your home to other users with similar households, and alerts for when devices have been left on or may be malfunctioning. This is great for vacation rental properties or for caregivers to remotely check-in without being as intrusive as having a camera in the home. 

I enjoyed running around the house turning devices on and off to determine just how much energy they were using. This curiosity led me to discover some vampire electronics that were drawing power even when they were turned off, it also helped change some of my habits such as powering down my computer completely when I’m not using it.

I’d recommend Sense to property owners that want to monitor their home’s electrical system remotely or to identify ways they could save on their monthly electricity bills.