The Future of Open-Source Hardware and Science - Open-Source Lab: How to Build Your Own Hardware and Reduce Research Costs - page 260

past were divided between many separate devices. It is reasonable to assume that in the very
near future, many devices we currently use could be incorporated into inexpensive and uni-
versally available smartphone devices. These advanced devices can act as scientific and en-
gineering tools (such as the tricorder discussed in the last chapter) that will be available to
everyone. For example, smartphone technology has already been developed as a tool to im-
plement building energy audit programs to increase energy conservation measure (ECM) up-
take and concomitant environmental and economic benefits [ 7 ] . This particular smartphone
application provides an energy-audit platform with (1) quasi-real-time analysis, (2) continu-
ous user engagement, (3) geospatial customization, (4) additional ECMs, (5) ECM ranking and
user education, and (6) the ability to constantly evolve. My research group investigated a case
study of such functionality that showed that distributed analysis with the use of a smartphone
for 157,000 homes resulted in more than 50 years in savings to complete energy audits for
all dwellings in the region following a traditional energy-audit model [ 7 ]. That is faster! This
is just one application that could provide significant economic and environmental benefits
with today's technology. But what of tomorrow's technology that is thrown forward with the
power of the open-source paradigm?