There is a new free tool that can help Americans monitor power outages in real time. Launch Whisker Labs to compile data from its vast home sensor network, and now it launches the feature in its Ting application.
In fact, you don't need to use one of these sensors at home to use the Ting app to track blackouts. Whisker Labs, first with edgesaid it is the only app that offers instant power outage alerts on the U.S. hyperlocal level.
The tool helps people fill in blanks to see if they can return home after an interruption or related disaster. As weather-related blackouts are now more common than in the past, utilities are working to re-turn the lights and keep customers updated at the same time.
This tool can help people fill gaps
The service is based on a network of 1.1 million households throughout the U.S., which has whisker lab sensors (also known as Ting) designed to prevent electric fires. The sensor detects a micro or spark, which may be the result of a faulty wiring or a faulty device. Whisker Labs CEO Bob Marshall co-founded the company after his sister son lost the Electrical Home. The sensor is primarily intended to give residents enough advance warning that they take action to prevent this arc from forming into a full fire.
So far, the Ting application is limited to people who use sensors to monitor specific attributes. The app has an additional bonus, i.e. notify the user if the power is turned off at the location where the sensor is installed. However, after hearing the app's outage notifications were of use to Whisker Labs' customers and their neighbors, the company decided to improve the app so that anyone can access the service, whether sensors are installed or not.
Ting apps available now on Apple’s App Store and Google Play, which include an interactive national blackout map in the United States. In the application, the user can search and save an address to see if there is a power outage affecting the area, and it is crucial that the power is back.
Marshall said it happens that a ting sensor is installed in about 95% of homes in the United States. Each sensor requires 30 million electrical measurements per second – fast enough to notice voltage drops and signal a warning that the house will soon lose power before it actually happens. When Whisker Labs loses data from multiple sensors simultaneously, it can prove that there is a power outage that affects a wider community.
In my own reports about disasters, I heard about people hanging out at home during power outages and became a major source of information for neighbors who evacuated and needed to know when they could return. After Hurricane Ida left New Orleans residents in 2021, residents said the glitch map of local utilities showed that electricity was restored near them, even if not necessarily in local circumstances. I also use powerOutage.us to track large power outages throughout the US, but this also relies on the utility's data and does not amplify like the Ting App. So I can see how helpful it may be to have other options to use.