Do you know how much energy we spend in our daily life? Maybe you don’t but you want. Then you can turn that into reality by Smart Meter.Smart meters are the future of integrating technology into our daily energy management. Most people don’t think about how much energy they consume on a daily basis but with the advance of smart meters, consumers will be able to monitor how much gas and electricity they are using and how much it is costing them in real time.
But the price is costly. In the UK the government has pledged to get 26 million electricity meters and 22 million gas meters replaced with smart meters across the country by 2020, at an estimated cost of £7 billion. In the US, President Obama has called for 40 million smart meters to be installed, with 6 per cent of US citizens already using smart meters in their homes. The question is: Do we really need smart meters?
The charge against smart meters is simple: why should we replace an existing technology which works perfectly well? As the old adage goes: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.The problem is that our thinking on energy is broken and finding new ways to combat our constantly expanding demand for gas and electricity is necessary to solve the problem of decreasing fuel resources.
The major disadvantage of the old meter is that it doesn’t record when the energy is consumed. Electricity is an extremely perishable commodity. Sometimes electricity is abundant and cheap. Often this is renewable energy such as wind. Other times it’s scares and expensive. Another disadvantage is that the old meters measure real rather than apparent power.
Eventually, we need to measure accurately the resource demands of customers so that they can be accurately accounted. Smart meters will be able to work with smart appliances that have their own microcontrollers. Smart meters will be able to identify these appliances and make adjustments for them.
Smart meters are one way that people can start to reduce the amount of energy they consume on a daily basis. The electronic meters replace the current analogue meters with a digital display that can calculate exactly how much gas and electricity is being used at any given time of day. Smart meters allow consumers to track their energy consumption day by day, which means people will be able to watch how changing their habits has a direct impact on their utility usage.
A simple gesture – such as switching off appliances at the mains rather than leaving them on standby – will have a noticeable effect on the smart meter, which customers will be able to see for themselves. Smart meters put the power in the hands of consumers and allow them to mark their own progress as they move to reduce their energy consumption.
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Tags: disadvantage, energy, measure, necessory, reduce, smart meter