Articles and whitepapers

Going Green: Raising the Profile of Smart Features (1/12/2008)

By Faye Scott, Green Alliance

Smart features tend to be imagined in relation to futuristic, high-end homes where our lives are made easier through simple touches, such as our fridge telling us when it is running out of milk. The green aspects of these smart homes are rarely part of the picture. But as we become increasingly preoccupied by the environmental impact and energy efficiency of our homes, smart features may have a lot to offer.

At Green Alliance, we felt that their potential contribution was unexplored, with green improvements still represented by traditional methods, such as insulation and double glazing. These existing options are important and we definitely want to see them in as many homes as possible, but once the easier goals have been achieved, how can homes take the next step in lowering their impact, and what of homes where the traditional options are not appropriate?

'Teaching homes to be green - smart homes and the environment' is a report by Green Alliance that takes a look at the green benefits offered by smart features. It found an evidence base that suggests promise but badly needs strengthening if smart features are to be seen as green solutions. Beyond that, the report explored which existing policy mechanisms offer opportunities to raise the profile of smart features as green options, and to support their deployment in Britain's housing stock.

From the strange to the familiar

Smart electricity meters will be the first experience that many people will have with smart technology, and Green Alliance has been a strong supporter of rolling them out, along with separate visual display units. They have the potential to bring residents face to face with their energy consumption and its associated financial costs, with an immediacy that is not currently available.

The portable Wattson real-time display form DIY Kyoto shows electricity usage in watts, money or colour. The display receives data from a transmitter that is connected to a sensor that is clipped onto the electricity cable leading from the home’s meter box to the fuse box.

Owners of Wattson can download Holmes software to monitor data in more detail.

Evidence suggests that getting up-to-date, user-friendly information on energy use can prompt reductions in consumption between 1 - 10%. Smart meters were not always used in the trials behind these figures, but they will be the easiest way to make accurate, accessible energy use information widely available to all homes in the UK. Estimates suggest that the UK can expect reductions in electricity consumption of between 1 - 3% from a smart meter roll out with visual display units, and a trial is underway to gain more clarity on this.

The Current Cost home electricity monitoring device informs consumers of real time usage and cost, encouraging them to change their behaviour and reduce waste.

Whatever the saving, smart meters will bring home energy use into the consciousness of people in a way that is currently impossible with the inaccurate, out-of-date, incomprehensible energy bills that most people receive. This, in addition to the actual savings they encourage, is their real environmental value. As awareness of the real-time costs of energy use increases, people will think more about their other actions and how they can reduce consumption and save money. Understanding the links between actions and energy use will also mean that initiatives to promote options, such as insulation, will be easier, as people will be better able to relate the energy savings they offer to the benefits of warmth and saving money.

Real-time displays, like those illustrated in this article, are already available and can achieve energy savings by prompting reduced consumption. Green Alliance sees them as valuable and would like to see them more widely available, but they are not smart technology, as they just clip on to existing electricity meters. They are also not as commonplace as a national roll out of smart meters will achieve, and they will not enable the wider benefits of smart technology and communications systems that allow a home’s heating system, water, gas and electricity meters to communicate, allowing suppliers and residents to build up a picture of resource use in the home and how it can be reduced.

From an industry point of view, smart electricity meters will be the first step in familiarising residents with smart technology and what it can offer. As progress is made on smart gas meters and even smart water meters, the concept will already be a familiar one, making their possible introduction easier. Familiarity with energy use through smart meters will also make intelligent heating and lighting controls much more attractive to homeowners. In the context of up-to-date information on energy use and costs, the benefits offered by intelligent controls will be much easier for consumers to understand.

Smart policy

Although 'Teaching homes to be green' makes the case first and foremost for a better evidence base for the green benefits of smart homes, it also examines where they fit into existing policy. With more evidence, it is likely that smart features can be added to the standard list of suggested green improvements. But the fact that they tend to deliver energy savings through behaviour change rather than structural improvements is a challenge for policy.

It makes it hard for assessments such as the Energy Performance Certificate ratings to take smart features into account, and the same is true of companies introducing smart features as part of meeting their Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT). CERT does now give credit for providing consumers with real-time display units, so it has been possible to assign an assumed reduction in energy use through behaviour change, to them. But there are strong policy drivers behind the roll out of real-time display units that may not carry across when attempting the same with other smart features.

Time is on their side though. For the moment, companies are still going with cheaper and easier options such as insulation to meet their CERT commitments, as these are still nowhere near as widespread as they could be. In the interim, the evidence base for energy savings from smart features should build up, making the case for their inclusion in future ratings and credit schemes easier.

For the present, hard-to-treat existing homes are a key area in which smart features have more immediate relevance. 43% of smart homes have at least one hard-to-treat feature, such as solid walls. Such homes may find that smart features, such as intelligent controls, are easier and more attractive ways to reduce their impact than options such as solid wall insulation. There is currently little incentive for homeowners to pursue such options, but we would like to see requirements to improve the environmental performance of homes increase. In this context, having smart features included in the variety of options available to homeowners will be an asset.

Thwarted ambition?

The challenge to smart features fulfilling their green potential is the nagging possibility that they will in fact increase energy use. The lifestyle elements of smart homes are a particular concern as they often involve more mood lighting, in the form of energy-intensive halogen bulbs, and options such as having flatscreen TVs in each room for entertainment to follow you from room to room. Even if you have intelligent lighting controls, if your overall energy use from lighting increases, savings will be considerably less. This tension is something that we would like to see the industry address.

It may be tempting to use energy-intensive halogen bulbs for mood lighting, but this kitchen is dynamically lit using different lighting layers and lamp technologies, among which are energy-saving fluorescents and LEDs.

The industry will also need to play its part in building the evidence base for the green benefits of smart features. Green Alliance called a number of intelligent heating and lighting controls companies while researching 'Teaching homes to be green', and very few had information to hand. Most said that their customers are not interested in green benefits, so they do not bother to research them. But companies should be able to talk about green benefits and to proactively suggest smart features for environmental reasons.

Conclusion

As people become more conscious of energy use and its financial impact, smart companies would be well placed to add energy and money saving benefits to their products' sales features. And with recession threatening the home improvement market, being able to offer such timely and relevant savings may help support businesses in difficult times. But this is only possible if companies have a robust evidence base to support their claims.

Industry should not have to do this alone. As government trials for smart electricity meters are underway, we would also like to see government support for research into the environmental benefits of smart technology. The challenge of greening our housing stock is huge - we cannot afford to overlook any potential solutions.

Faye Scott is the Policy Officer for Green Alliance, an independent charity with a mission to promote sustainable development in the UK by ensuring that environmental solutions are a priority in British politics.

The full report 'Teaching homes to be green - smart homes and the environment' can be downloaded from:

www.green-alliance.org.uk/blueprint-content.aspx?id=1966