The role of (meter) design in behavioural change
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Ben Pirt, CTO, Onzo, London, UK
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Transcript of The role of (meter) design in behavioural change
Ben Pirt, CTO, Onzo, London, UK
in behavioural changeBen Pirt :: twitter.com/bjpirt
Onzo :: www.onzo.com :: twitter.com/onzohq
(meter) The role of design
People seem to hold smart meters responsible for solving the planet’s environmental issues!
Big responsibility
"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
(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
Multi-billion dollar industry
One engineer thinking about other ways to use the system
Image: mangee @ flickr - thank you!
What is the equivalent of SMS in meter design?
Data
Image: paedrus @ flickr - thank you!
What kind of data?
Data that is already being measured
Real Power
Energy
Reactive Power
The more frequent the better!
Voltage
Image: ScareTax @ flickr - thank you!
But what does data have to do with behaviour change?
:: Energy data
Data is the foundation upon which everything else builds
Data
Information
Knowledge
Wisdom :: Behaviour change
:: Understand usage
:: Graphs of usage
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
Image: midcenturydesign @ flickr - thank you!
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
Image: schilling2 @ flickr - thank you!
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
Image: roddh @ flickr - thank you!
If we create more capable systems now, we will enable more interesting things to
happen in the future
