Smart champions lead the debate on cleaner energy
As the name suggests, smart meters could be the key to using energy more intelligently
SMART meters have been hailed as the future of energy in Great Britain, as they will help us towards greener and cleaner energy consumption, which is better for the planet, and your pocket. We’ve put some of the most commonly asked questions about smart meters to our panel of energy experts. Want to know how a smart meter could save the planet, lower monthly bills and even help revolutionise care at home? Read on to get the answers...
Q: Will a smart meter really help save the planet?
“The benefit from a smart meter in your home can seem difficult to track back to the environment, but the most obvious advantage is to be able to run the electricity system with less coal and gas fired power stations. That energy is dirty power. The times when power is the dirtiest on the system is when we need the most of it, if you use power when outside the peak it is usually much greener.
“And that is where smart meters come in. If you can be flexible in when you use electricity, you can choose to use it when there is less demand or more supply (for example, when there is lots of wind or sun), and that means it will be cleaner, and greener. But you need to know when that demand is low and supply is high, which is what smart meters will be able to do for you. Low prices also match up with low carbon, and smart meters will help track if you have used low price power and then be rewarded for it.
“For our planet to have lower carbon emissions, we need to use energy more intelligently. Smart meters are the enabler for that.”
Q: How can we move to a lower carbon or zero-carbon energy system?
“We need to eliminate the carbon dioxide that comes from burning fossil fuels like coal because of the harmful impact it has on the environment. If we do need to burn fossil fuels to make electricity, then in the future we will need to capture this carbon dioxide before it gets into the atmosphere to avoid causing harm.
“However – it would be preferable to stop using fossil fuels altogether. An important step towards this is to use the data from smart meters to maximise the use of renewable energy when it is available and provide price signals to homes and businesses to reduce demand at peak times, where typically fossil fuels are being burned to meet demand.”
Q: There have been so many data breaches recently. How do we know my details won’t be hacked?
“The use of data is highly regulated, no-one can use smart meter data without the customer’s consent. Customers have to gift their data to energy suppliers and other people who provide services before it can be used. Half-hourly energy readings are fed back from smart meters to energy suppliers and this alone cannot be used to individually identify a person. No personal details are sent through the system.
“In our research we collect much finer energy readings (every 10-seconds) which is gifted by patients through an ethically approved clinical trial. This allows us to establish specific patterns of usage (appliance usage) to help us to identify worrying behaviour. Everything is anonymised, and we can’t get any identifiable data that tells us who the person is. In other words, we cannot identify anyone from their energy use alone.
“The data that goes to your energy supplier allows them to calculate accurate bills and explain your energy usage. You would have to give your consent for it to be used in other ways. For example, in our clinical trial with Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust, the patients we are working with provide consent on the basis that the data is anonymised and they are not identifiable. There is a misconception that smart meter data is insecure and can be used for any purpose, which is simply not true.”
Q: What’s wrong with the old electricity meter system? Why do we need to change things?
“Smart meters are planned to be the backbone of the domestic smart grid in Britain. This grid in the future may bring about many changes, with the possibility to allow for systems such as battery storage, electric vehicles and renewable energy systems such as solar PV panels to be fully integrated into a home.
“This offers the possibility of reducing the environmental impact of homes with the opportunity of using low carbon sources such as PV in a more automated and efficient way to maximise this source’s potential.”
Smart Energy GB is the government backed organisation tasked with informing Great Britain about the benefits of the smart meter rollout.
‘For our planet to have lower carbon emissions, we need to use energy more intelligently. Smart meters are the enabler for that’ ‘The use of data is highly regulated, no-one can use smart meter data without the customer’s consent.’