A cost-effective simplified energy monitoring system using IOT

The management of any process really requires sensing, transferring and recording of relevant data for analysis purposes so as to make an informed decision. In fact, smart manufacturing requires sufficient knowledge to be available to the decision-maker to ensure that any system runs efficiently and effectively, which may include an energy generation system. The purpose of this paper is to present a simplified energy monitoring system, and its acquired data, that may be used to achieve such real-time results that can be used to make an informed decision. An experimental methodology is applied where empirical quantitative data is derived from a residential home in a suburb of a city having a population of around half a million people. Nine electrical circuits are monitored systematically using a current sensor where data is transferred to Google Sheets using an Arduino microprocessor and ESP8266 module. Custom made power usage graphs are directly visible via any electronic device, for real-time results. It is recommended to make more use of such cost-effective simplified systems in an attempt to provide sufficient knowledge to make an informed decision that may contribute to identifying energy discrepancies in any given system with the aim of improving energy efficiency.