PoweredUp Electricity Demystified

Welcome to PoweredUp. PoweredUp is a place for people who are interested in learning more about electricity. You use electricity, don't you? Sure you do. Every time you flick on a lightswitch, turn on your television or start your computer (to name just a few daily activities) you are using electricity. And that costs you money. How much does it cost you? Well that's one of the questions that we're here to help you answer. Did you know that now more than ever you're consuming electricity even when you think that you're not? It's true. Lots of devices (like microwave ovens and cable boxes) run on standby power to keep functions like digital clocks operating. That costs you money. This project is also dedicated to making people aware of things like that.

We think that people want to know a lot more about electric power ("power") than they do already. Most people believe that power will cost more in the future. So for some it is an issue of economics. People also know that their is an environmental impact as a result of their power usage. So for some people information about power usage is about environmental responsibility. What's the environmental impact of electric power generated in your area? Good question. We're here to help answer that question as well. Those are just two very good reasons why information about power is important to people.

People want to know more about power usage but there are a few barriers that prevent the average citizen from getting a deep understanding of it. The ins and outs of electricity production and usage aren't taught in school unless you specifically take a power engineering or power economics course. So a very small segment of the population is exposed to the right information on a regular basis. Those who do want to learn first have to wade through a lot of technical information, jargon, buzzwords, etc. Let's face it. Electricity is not a user friendly topic. We hope to change that. There are issues with data too. There is a ton of data on power pricing, power sellers (also called utlities) and power consumption for products (iPods, televisions, refrigerators, etc.) that is available but not very accessible, understandable or easily shareable. We hope to change that too.

As far as data is concerned there are three things that we can do to help. We can make data more accessible by gathering related data from various sources and putting it together in one place. We can put the data into context so that becomes information that you can use in a practical manner. Finally we can make that data more social so you can share and discuss it with other people.

There's a lot to do and we're excited to get started. Watch this space for new information and updates on the development of our platform.