Putting energy on autopilot could fix our broken energy market, study finds

A new study by Goldsmiths, University of London says that automating the home would cut energy costs and allow a reinvention of the utility sector.

A new smart homes study launched today [15 June 2015] suggests consumers will increasingly switch energy onto 'auto-pilot', a move which will enable us to participate in a new lower cost, customer centric energy market structure.

The Smart Lives report was commissioned by the Energy Saving Trust (EST) and undertaken by Goldsmiths, University of London. It envisions the challenges and opportunities of introducing smart home technologies from a consumer perspective. ​ Within the experiment, people participated in an in-depth behavioural trial of smart home technologies providing ‘live’ insights into how consumers discover and experience smart home innovation.

"The hype surrounding smart energy devices exceeds levels of understanding"

Smart home technologies, such as smart meters and thermostats, have been hyped as a cure for tackling energy waste in the home, where around 20% of all electricity is wasted, e.g. by lights being left on in empty rooms and heating on when nobody’s home.  But the new study shows that that the hype surrounding smart energy devices exceeds the level of understanding of their role in improving lives. 

One of the key insights from the study was that for smart energy technologies to live up to their full potential, the trial participants wanted to give up control of their energy choices - empowering the ‘Home Operating System’ to decide when to switch on and off devices. At a simple level, one of the key ways smart energy technologies work is to make our energy wastage more visible, in order to shock us into reducing consumption.  But the study found that just making data visible isn’t helpful for energy saving. 

Looking beyond the individual and toward collective consumption

 

The study found that to create the most impact, consumers would need to automate their energy use, allowing intelligent systems to push our energy use into low tariff periods, when overall demand is lower and when prices are cheaper. The service-based UK economy is shifting from an ownership model to one built on access to assets and services.  According to the study, to reduce consumption we must look beyond the individual and focus on enabling collective consumption, by creating a community of users, which use, store and save energy using a transparent platform, so that the costs are shared out across everyone.   

Dr Chris Brauer, Smart Lives Research Director, Goldsmiths, University of London, said:

“Automating the system would allow us to use energy collaboratively, as a service, in much the same way that one would use AirBnB.  By employing automation and artificial intelligence in the home it’s possible to find an energy consumption sweet spot that will bring costs and consumption down.  But to get there, must be prepared to let the systems in our home take the wheel.” 

 

Despite the promise of easier living, seamless user experiences and big savings, the study shows that, currently, most devices do not live up to these promises. There is a large gap between the expectations set by the industry and the realities. A lack of consumer engagement and understanding of smart energy technologies, such as smart thermostats and smart meters, could prevent UK homes from embracing smart energy technology and living up to their potential to fix the energy market.

Nick Hay, Director of Cleantech, Edelman, said:

“Energy is the last great British industry to be digitised and smart technologies promise a myriad of exciting benefits for homes.  However, the Edelman Trust Barometer shows that trust in technology has dipped for the first time in 15 years. To prevent a generation of consumers being put off by dystopian visions of losing control, it’s vital that we build trust so that we’re confident enough to integrate in smart technologies into our daily lives and behaviour.”

Smart home technologies have currently penetrated around 14% of UK homes. By 2020, the Government has mandated a £14bn roll out of smart meters into UK homes. The savings calculated from the smart meter roll out assume that 100% of households will opt-in to the scheme.  However, it cannot be assumed that every household is likely to opt in, or that once installed smart energy technologies will become integral to human behaviour.