His name is Shwetak Patel, he is 29, he is an assistant professor at the University of Washington. Today he received a MacArthur grant for developing a sensory technology system (it monitors household energy and water flows) that's set to revolutionize not only our relationship with our homes but also our appliances.

"You have pressure noise and electrical noise," he explained over the phone, "and basically what the system does is collect information from the noise... The consumer can then see exactly how a device or activity is using energy or water." His house is monitored by this system. "I'm used to it now, but there is always something new to learn. For example, it's interesting that the cable box is equal to the bill for the dryer. But the dryer is known as this big drain on energy. But you only use the dryer once in a while whereas the cable box is always on... The system will also make manufactures more accountable for the devices they make. It will no longer be about how well something works but how much energy it consumes. And changes will need to be made to improve the efficiency of these devices." Exit the mysteries of the living machine.