Despite Google’s attempts to help people take charge of their health and energy use, both Google PowerMeter and Google Health will be shut down as of September 16, 2011 and January 1, 2012, respectively, according to a report by Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry.

Managing Health and Energy, No Simple Undertaking

Google Health was created to allow users to organize health records, set new fitness goals, and track progress, while Google PowerMeter was introduced to help individuals manage the energy use in their homes. Though both services appeared to have potential when the ideas first came to fruition, neither received an especially warm welcome after being launched. In a report on eweek.com, Clint Boulton said, “the service never caught on because the vast majority of people simply aren’t ready or willing to store and access their records online.”

Reactions from Users

Responses to the news that both Google PowerMeter and Google Health will be shut down have spanned from optimistic expressions of hope to unsupportive claims.  Some people seem excited to see what Google will introduce in place of these two services while other, less optimistic users accuse Google of never being invested in the projects from the start.

Conclusion

Either way, we can only hope that future endeavors by Google turn out to be more successful. With such services available free of charge, Google can do a lot to help people worldwide.