The BBC has reported how the Energy Saving Trust in the UK has highlighted the importance of clear visual displays when smart meters are used.
The report, from the Energy Saving Trust, says that smart meters will be less effective without monitors.
This supports what Enigin PLC has provided in their Eniscope solution. The Eniscope is far more than a “smart meter” being an advanced real-time energy monitor and combined with Enigin’s bespoke powerful software it provides the most comprehensive visual energy-use display for commerce and industry.
Backing up Enigin’s view that you need to measure your energy use, before you can make the required savings, the BBC’s report stated the following:
Real-time graphics will allow people to see how much power they use and help them cut their consumption.
The Energy Saving Trust fears that without visual displays energy consumers will find it harder to benefit from the smart meters and save power.
Focus group research presented in the report, The Smart Way to Display, shows a consumer preference for simplicity in visual displays of energy use.
Graphic indicator
Most people preferred a graphic indicator of their real-time rate of energy consumption, expressed in terms of expenditure per day.
A gauge of cumulative spend was also a popular idea. Consumers thought that these features would help them track consumption and pinpoint areas of high usage.
The focus group members also felt that the ability to access historical data on consumption and compare it with current levels was essential.
The trust's energy efficiency strategy manager, Ben Castle, told BBC News that only stand alone in-house display monitors could offer the immediate, direct and real time feedback on consumption that consumers need.
He said: "It moves and it can catch your eye and it is very little hassle for you to check how you are doing. It gives a much greater certainty that people will receive this feedback.
"Other alternatives, such as online services and mobile phone technology, don't give that immediate feedback that people need to inform their behavioural choices.
"I think having good, well designed displays accompanying smart meters is key to the objective of saving energy, saving carbon, saving money."
Enigin’s Eniscope will provide all this for businesses now, as the report above confirms seeing what you are using produces change in behaviour and targeted savings and efficiencies.
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