Get Smart  

The ABC has a report on a successful smart meter trial by Energy Australia - New meters slash home power use: trial.

Energy Australia says new-generation electricity meters could cut household power use by up to 25 per cent. The utility has been trialing the "smart meters", which not only break down household power use over the day but also have a built in communication device advising customers of power demand surges.

Spokesman Anthony O'Brien says a trial of the metres has shown electricity can be cut by up to 25 per cent in peak times and 5 per cent outside peak times. "It sends us a very encouraging signal that smart metres are not only helping give customers more control over their electricity use, they are helping customers to conserve energy during peak times but also outside peak times as well," he said.

The State Government believes new power stations are needed by 2013-14, which is one of the prime reasons for privatising the power industry.

A trial by Country Energy found a 10 per cent reduction in electricity demand at households using smart meters, while trials by EnergyAustralia found much larger reductions were possible where smart meters had in-built communications devices, so households could be advised of expected power demand surges, when the price also rises sharply.

In this case households cut about a quarter of their demand use from peak to non-peak times, while also cutting use.

Recently the Ministerial Council for Energy, which is comprised of all state and federal energy ministers, threw its weight behind the introduction of smart meters, estimating they could result in benefits totalling $7.5 billion, mostly in NSW and Victoria. In NSW most smart meters will be introduced out over the next eight years.

Some electricity retailers such as EnergyAustralia are installing these next generation of meters in all new developments.

Traditional meters measure total power usage, while smart meters can break that down into time of day, so households can limit power use during expected demand surges, such as extremely cold or hot weather which is when power prices can skyrocket.

But if in-home displays are not included with time-of-use pricing - prices varying in line with broad demand - this will limit the impact in cutting power demand.

The energy crisis, transportation in cities, the water supply and addressing climate change are issues that have received a priority in Australia. The country believes the problems need to be addressed in an integrated manner rather than addressing each separately.

Andrew Campbell, an environmental consultant, says Australia must develop a comprehensive environmental strategy to address the supply of food, water, and energy for the next 50 years.“On the one hand biofuels (which use lots of water) are being investigated as an alternative source of energy, while on the other, energy-hungry desalination plants are being constructed to supply water,” said Campbell.

“The rapid convergence of food, energy and water security issues against the backdrop of climate change means that joined-up-government has to become much more than just a slogan,” he added.

Alan Pears, who fills dual roles as Adjunct Professor at RMIT University and as an environmental consultant, believes R&D in the energy sector must be restructured towards a service-based model.

“We need to develop policy that solves multiple problems rather than having one policy to deal with climate change, such as emissions trading, then another policy to deal with peak electricity supply by putting in smart meters and power stations, and yet another to address equity.”

Pears believes a much bolder approach for energy efficiency is necessary where mandated energy consumption standards, including product labeling, would become the norm just as products are currently labeled according to safety standards. Incentives that encourage energy conservation innovations and assistance for the economically disadvantaged are also mandatory.

Those of us in the lean manufacturing world have known for a long time that one of the most powerful ways to create change and efficiency is by leveraging the knowledge, creativity, and ideas of people. You have to give them the knowledge of their environment via metrics and information, provide them with tools and training to learn how to impact that environment, and rewards when positive change occurs.

The same phenomena can obviously be used outside of manufacturing. For years businesses has had the equipment, and financial incentives, to monitor and adjust their power usage which has helped the electric utilities level demand. As someone who used to run an operation that built equipment that could test hundreds of communications lasers at a time, during the California power shortages at the turn of the century, I was distinctly aware of this capability each day.

Now the same knowledge, tools, and rewards are being applied to the residential electricity consumer.

Can "smart" meters get consumers to reduce the amount of electricity they use? That's the bet that many U.S. utilities are making.

Facing soaring costs, power companies are equipping millions of homes with advanced meters that monitor energy use much more precisely than regular ones. That makes it easier for consumers to figure out when energy supplies are stretched thin -- and for power companies to get consumers to cut back at those critical times.

First you have to provide the tools and knowledge.

Until recently, programs like these mostly were reserved for big energy users because it was expensive to equip residential customers with smart meters and other control equipment. As the market grows, though, costs are coming down. In many cases, utilities also say that advanced meters will cut operational costs, such as meter readers.

Then the incentive to use that new knowledge and the rewards to change the behavior. For example:

Customers that cut electricity use at high-stress times will be rewarded with a credit of $1.50 for each kilowatt-hour of electricity reduction. So a customer who cuts consumption, from a baseline amount, by six kilowatt-hours on a single day would receive a $9 credit in addition to direct energy savings of 90 cents.

Individual consumer behavior changes...