New app lets you control exactly how much energy each appliance uses

New app lets you control exactly how much energy each appliance uses

Control your appliances from anywhere in the world.

Australia's national science organisation, the CSIRO, has developed a new app that lets you remotely keep track of exactly how much money you're spending on electricity at any given time - and even lets you monitor and control individual appliances from your phone.

While we can already stay on top of how much electricity our houses are guzzling on a daily basis using smart meters, the new prototype app - which is called 'Eddy' - wants to take things one step further by putting people in control of their power consumption, with the overall aim of saving people money and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Right now the app only works on big devices such as air conditioners and pool pumps, but the developers are hoping that in the future they'll be able to take it down to the level of monitoring and turning on and off individual lightbulbs. You can find out more in the CSIRO video below:

Eddy is all part of the 'Internet of Things', which will soon see many of our home appliances connected to the Internet. While that sounds a little creepy, it also gives us unprecedented control of our homes from anywhere in the world, and it can help make people more aware of little ways they can cut down their electricity bill and carbon footprint.  Created with app development company HabiDapt, the software is now being trialled in the Australian cities of Perth and Townsville under the name "HomeSmart" and they're hoping to roll it out to the rest of the country soon. You can already play around with a demo of the system here.