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If it was convenient to do so, I'd be happy to share my data in the aggregate, but for privacy and security reasons, I wouldn't want to make my data personally identifiable. That sounds like an invitation for all kinds of random craziness and unwanted targeting.

So perhaps a self-reporting mechanism where I can check my Smart Meter usage in real time, or on my monthly bill and enter that data into some kind of aggregating application. PG&E smart meters give customers their energy usage data, but PG&E probably won't let developers outside of PG&E use their customer data.

When CleanPowerSF gets underway, it will be an opt-out program, and because residents will be power customers, the city will eventually have a lot of power usage data that, under the open data policy, could be made available to private sector developers (in the aggregate stripping the raw data of personally identifying records).

Since my energy usage is extremely low (my bill is about 8 dollars a month - for real) I would love to be able to show people that making good choices around energy consumption is possible and has tangible financial benefits. It would be great to find a way to get commercial customers to voluntarily report their energy usage.

So in this hypothetical app, one could select their consumer class - residential or commercial and further refine the parameters by square footage and type of commercial use - retail, food service, manufacturing, office service. The theory being that more square footage requires more light/heat/cooling. (My data gathering instrument is off the cuff and may not have validity.)

I also think it's important to connect energy usage to other statistics to make the data meaningful and tell us something about the impacts and outcomes of our energy consumption. For example, the amount of CO2 emitted to generate the electricity and gas one consumes. Or a description of how commercial consumption is an economic driver by contributing to productivit