You may recall earlier this year when Google began testing the Google PowerMeter.

This is a tool that allows consumers to see how much energy they use in real time. Watch the following clip The addition of Google, and its PowerMeter service, to the Alliance really completes the Smart Grid circle within IPSO, explained Geoff Mulligan, Chairman of the IPSO Alliance. Now, not only will consumers be able to use the products and services of IPSO Alliance member companies to connect their home to the grid, they also will be able to monitor how those appliances, and their entire home, are consuming energy.Other companies involved with the IPSO Alliance include Fujitsu, Echelon Corporation, the Elster Group, and August Systems. The Alliance has been around just over a year, and has already been named one of Time Magazines Best Inventions of 2008.