Show HN: Launching energy tracking and automation web app | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: Launching energy tracking and automation web app

unplu.gg

38 pointsjbarbosa19 comments

Holy image size. Pretty cool idea, and it seems like you've put a lot of time into the site, but I recommend hiring a designer to clean everything up. A site is often the first impression of a company, and if I came across this on my own I would have immediately left.

Some things right off the top of my head:

- Don't use a giant 650kb image for the main content block. This can be broken down a lot into smaller images and css. I would even have a sign up form or large sign up button as part of this block too.

- Use sans-serif fonts, I usually go with something like Open Sans

- Don't use grey text on a grey background. I would maybe put a white background for the middle 960px of the page to give more focus to the content.

Hope this helps a bit, and if you have questions or want some more advice feel free to message me.

Thanks for the clear feedback.

We will be taking it into account as we revamp the landing page - which is naturally on the short-term roadmap.

Hi, it isn't really clear what the product is. How does it interface with my meter or other hardware? Do I need to buy the app and a power monitor? How does it communicate with my existing home network, or the internet? The copy is written by a non-native English speaker, there are subtle problems with the language, that plus the graphic design needs to be tightened up. The overall marketing needs to be more serious-- I think the product sector is more like banking or health care, in that there are major safety and privacy concerns. So you need marketing that conveys that you're serious people, that the hardware won't catch on fire or electrocute me, and that the API and my home network are secure.

Thanks for your feedback.

We know the landing page is not where we want it to be. Hence, it is specially important to get concrete feedback on what should be considered in the next update.

Agree 100%. Do I need to buy something? I don't know. Can I just download the app and connect it to existing hardware in my house? If I need to buy a monitor first, why wouldn't I use the software that that comes with?

I just signed up using a custom userid/pwd (not FB login) and did not connect any social network account to unplu.gg and I noticed that my picture is showing up in the profile.

How did that happen?

You probably have your email connected to a gravatar account with your picture.

That's it. Was confirmed by Antonio from unplu.gg.

This is great! Last year, I worked on a project during a hackathon to build an energy meter and gamify saving electricity by building a game where the user is fighting vampires. The more electricity users saved in the real world, the more virtual energy they built up in the game to be able to defend against waves of vampire attacks.

Once products like this become mainstream, it'll be nice to see developers work on more polished ideas that use energy usage data in interesting and meaningful ways.

One thing that I like that the Nest (http://www.nest.com/) has done is they give you a green leaf if you set the temperature at an energy saving level. Then each month or so they email you how many green leaves you've accumulated and how you are doing compared to the average in your area. While this is not a full blown "game" it definitely triggered my competitive side and I've tried to turn down the thermostat to get as many green leaves as possible.

Rather than seeing what kind of punishing temperatures one can endure to please their thermostat, other options are available that I consider more intelligent. An attic fan, thicker insulation, whole-house fan, window maintenance, sealing air gaps, etc. While there is the demographic that has an empty house while they're gone at work, most have a family, pets, etc. that should not be subject to varying extremes of temperatures. Instead of focusing on when to adjust temperature for human conditions for the sake of saving energy (and money), the house should probably be sealed better to retain the temperature with minimal machinery involvement. The Nest is a cool gadget, but very limited in actual value in its current implementation.

Very true, It would be like trying to pump more blood into a bleeding patient and calling it good when the rate you are pumping in matches the rate at which its exiting the gaping wound. I live in an apartment building so the relatively small space and little bits that I can do to increase insulation make the Nest perfect for my application. Also being able to turn my heat on while I'm driving home is a huge win.

I recommend putting Amazon (or other) affiliate links to purchase the hardware you support. I don't have such hardware but am interested in it. I would have gladly clicked your links to check it out. Instead I now have to copy and paste into search.

Any info or thoughts about supporting Green Button exports?

There is an API already to export data. Currently it doesn't use the Greenbutton format, but is something to be considered in the future.

I was more thinking of the ability to import my greenbutton data to gain insights

We already parse that type of data, if it is from tendril connect.

Where you thinking about uploading a simple file?

If you would like to help us understand your use case, can you send a quick email to mail at unplu dot gg ?

how is this different from WattVision.com?

http://unplu.gg is hardware agnostic.

The data can be collected from a range of sensors like The Energy Detective or Current Cost. That is the current best selling point.

The rest is vision of what this service can be. And our focus in that regard seems very differente, although only a part of that vision is represented in the current state of the app.

Hopefully we will be back in a couple of months showing a couple of disruptive new features.

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