The role of (meter) design in behavioural change

Ben Pirt, CTO, Onzo, London, UK

The role of (meter) design in behavioral change Ben Pirt CTO, Onzo

People seem to hold smart meters responsible for solving the planet’s environmental issues! "Smart meters will put the power in people's hands, enabling us all to control how much energy we use, cut emissions and cut bills," Energy and Climate Change Minister, Lord Hunt Big responsibility (no pressure!)

A story... In the mid 80’s some engineers thought about sending messages between phones using the signalling channels already present. Developed into an international standard 4.1 trillion SMS messages sent in 2008

One engineer thinking about other ways to use the system Multi-billion dollar industry

What is the equivalent of SMS in meter design? Data

What kind of data? Data that is already being measured Real Power Reactive Power Energy Voltage The more frequent the better!

But what does data have to do with behaviour change?

Wisdom :: Behaviour change Knowledge :: Understand usage Information :: Graphs of usage Data :: Energy data Data is the foundation upon which everything else builds

This is why we need more frequent, high quality data Displays become more responsive Graphs become more detailed Analysis becomes more accurate Understanding becomes better Behaviour change becomes more effective

How does better data change people’s behaviour?

It’s not the data itself, it’s what you do with it... 1/2 hourly billing data enables time of use tariffs which encourage people to use energy more efﬁciently Good ﬁrst step Still doesn’t help with understanding Only coarse data required - slow feedback rate

Live data over the HAN enables real-time displays which give people more info to help save energy Begin to understand where the energy is being used Near-real-time data required More frequent data = more effective system

Advanced data analytics turns information into knowledge. Helps people to understand exactly how they are using their energy Full understanding of where the energy is being used High resolution data required More frequent data = more effective system

Once people can understand their energy usage, they will be able to take control of their behaviour Smart appliance control Real-time data required More frequent data = more effective system

Like SMS - we can’t fully envisage how the system will be used in the future Real-time energy trading Micro-gen Distributed storage and PHEVs

If we create more capable systems now, we will enable more interesting things to happen in the future

The role of (meter) design in behavioural change

by bjpirt

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