In a market where consumers--both residential and commercial--are giving recognition to their carbon footprint and taking control of their consumption, energy suppliers, technology companies, and even the government is getting involved--making consumption data more accessible, creating initiatives that make these partnerships more feasible, and creating systems and technology to simplify and gauge behaviors and performance.
As a result, a slew of new technologies are being released into the market, allowing consumers real access to their consumption patterns, helping to identify deficiencies in operations and even suggesting upgrades where deficiencies may be occurring. Encouraging enough, these applications don't have to be a costly investment. In fact, some are quite affordable--or even better--free. Here are three applications that are trending in the energy management market that any organization can afford.