As part of Brown’s plans to cut Domestic emissions by 80 percent by 2050 there was mention again of the introduction of ‘smart meters’ into homes. These meters will allow homeowners to see clearly how much energy they are consuming.
The green benefit of smart meters is that homeowners will be able to adjust energy consumption more carefully. Current meters are hidden away in cupboards, displays are in kilowatt hours and the statement is only produced once a quarter in most cases. To many, figuring out their energy consumption can be tricky so doing anything about it is even harder.
Smart Meters are basically any meters with an increased functionality to the more traditional meter. Primarily they are designed to make the process of reading a meter clearer for both the energy company and the consumer. Some estimates say that they can reduce energy use by 10 percent.
There are calls by the Green Alliance, an environmental think tank, for more research to be carried out into their benefits as there is little robust evisence to give any precise figures. Even without the direct evidence it is a fair bet to say that higher awareness of energy wastage leads to a reduction of it.
Another call from enviromental groups is to make the public aware of the meters. A recent survey by the insures More Than found that 86 percent of the people they surveyed did not know what a smart meter was, but many would be happy to switch to them once it was explained.
The most important increased functions of the meters are:
Remote reading
This allows the meters to be read without someone visiting your house. Not only does this save oney but it also allows energy comapnies to monitor and in some cases control excessive or fraudulant use.
Display in more user friendly units
Instead of kilowatt hours they could show the homeowner how much money is being spent at any given time, hopefully with a knock on effect of reducing consumption.
Internet access
Homeowners can monitor their energy efficiency during a day online and in some cases control devices and power remotely.
The reason the installation of such a system is really beneficial though is because people could be billed more accurately, by the time of day they are using the energy.
The price of electricity varies depending on the time of day and during what season it is being required. There are peaks in consumption, like when everyone gets in from work and puts the kettle on and there are points in the season when availability is lower.
The reason for this price increase is because in these situations electricity has to be bought from more expensive sources to meet the demand. The feeling is that if customers were charged according to when they used energy then they would be more likely to look to off peak times to use their electricty. We would eventually level out these peaks of usage and would not have to look to other sources to provide our energy as there should be a more evenly spread demand.
It is hoped that this situation would reduce the need for extra energy generation and would put a stop to ever rising energy costs.
Its not all good though, energy saving aside spare a thought for the children:
“Dad its cold, we want to play computer.”
“Not long now, just wait until 8 o’clock; we are still on-peak. Okay you two?”
“But…”
“And by the way, I know one of you turned the thermostat up this afternoon. I was watching it from the office.”
“Sorry Dad.” |
