Families from Kingston in south west London are getting involved in a ground-breaking project to reduce the amount of energy they use. Around 500 households and a primary school in the north of the borough are taking part in the Smart Communities project, led by a team of researchers from Kingston University, which aims to help them reduce their energy consumption and save money by measuring their usage against that of their neighbours.
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Direct link to Smart Communities Project
Pilgrim Beart, founder of Alertme gave a presentation at IET in March 2011 argued that consumers need to be in the driving seat and key for a successful transition towards reduction of carbon emissions in the home.
The presentation covers an exploration of how Smart Meter and Smart Grid roll out can help in bringing smart grid benefits into consumer’s homes and act as a catalyst for many more Smart Home services. Creating operational efficiencies for utilities will not be enough, consumers will need to experience the benefit too. Smart capabilities in the Home Area Network (HAN) will need to be built with future developments in mind. Consistent and open standards are vital for the future of the Smart Home.
AlertMe showcases home energy management, control and automation at SmartLIFE
AlertMe, the pioneering online Smart Home and Home Energy Management Company, demonstrates its web-enabled Home Energy Management and Control services at the Cambridge SmartLIFE centre for a visit by Energy and Climate Change Secretary of State Chris Huhne in March 2011.
Based on the company’s award-winning Home Area Network (HAN) and cloud-based platform, AlertMe provides consumers with visibility, control and automation of their home energy (electricity and heating) online anytime, anywhere. AlertMe uses real-time two-way communication that allows consumers to manage and control a wide range of home activities over the internet and via their smart phone, saving up to 15-20% on their energy bills, reducing their carbon footprint and providing increased efficiency, convenience, comfort and peace of mind.
AlertMe works independent of, or in tandem with new Smart Meters, enhancing and extending the benefits of the Smart Grid to the consumer.
Features include:
The AlertMe web enabled Energy Starter Kit costs £49.99 with a £1.99 a month subscription, making home energy monitoring widely accessible.
The AlertMe Home Energy Management Service provides an innovative and affordable solution for the UK’s broadband-enabled homes (over 70%) by integrating everything into a single unified and intuitive service for the consumer. A great example of ‘The Internet of Things’, part of AlertMe exists ‘in the cloud’ and part in the home, creating a Home Area Network (HAN) that connects the user to their home energy and devices from anywhere in the world at any time.
The underlying technology features embedded software running on ZigBee enabled devices (such as an electricity meter reader, home heating thermostat, temperature and motion sensors, in home display) which communicate using encrypted wireless with the home hub gateway, which in turn is connected via the user’s broadband router to a the AlertMe cloud computing platform. Analytics and disaggregation of this data allows AlertMe to provide the consumer with personalised information about their own home, appliances and energy use along with tips to improve their personal efficiency.
AlertMe provides its services directly to consumers and also through partners such as Utilities, Telecommunication Companies, and other technology providers of Smart Grid, Smart Home and Home Electronics technology.
Home Energy Management for consumers is a relatively new area, but it is widely accepted that by giving consumers visibility and control of their home energy use and cost they can achieve savings of between 15% and 25% on their energy bills by identifying waste and more efficient ways to use their home appliances. For example; the Energy Saving Trust estimates that we waste electricity to the tune of over £900 million a year through appliances left on standby.
About AlertMe.com Ltd
AlertMe provides simple and affordable home energy management and connected home services both directly to consumers and indirectly through channel partners such as Utilities, Telecommunications companies and OEMs. Based on a single Home Area Network (HAN) platform, AlertMe allows consumers to monitor, control and automate a wide range of services in the home, such as energy use, heating, Solar PV and security, online and via their smart phone anywhere, anytime.
AlertMe allows partners to provide their customers with new services that enhance the customer relationship, improve customer loyalty and increase revenue. The company provides consumers with the tools to reduce their energy consumption and bills by 15-20% and to participate in meeting Government targets and objectives for energy conservation and carbon emissions reduction.
AlertMe is private and venture backed by British Gas, Good Energies, Index Ventures, SET Venture Partners and VantagePoint Venture Partners.
Simple draught-proofing may be all you need to keep the heat in, but care also needs to be taken with windows. Chris Wood, head of building conservation and research at English Heritage (EH), fears that the energy-saving lobby is encouraging huge numbers of owners of Victorian and Georgian houses to have eco-makeovers, and that thousands of lovely old windows will be lost for ever. This has been exacerbated by a marketing drive from double-glazing salesmen offering plastic-framed units as energy-savers.
‘Many original timber sash windows have lasted more than 200 years, and are capable of lasting another century,’ comments Dr Simon Thurley, EH’s chief executive. ‘It’s a waste to throw them away unneces-sarily.’ Research carried out on windows rescued from a skip by EH shows that they keep heat in much more efficiently after some repair.
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Thermal imaging photography can be used to find out where the cracks and gaps in a building are located is by means It detects where the thermal insulation, windows, constructions etc. are faulty by identifying the leaks through which the heated air (in cold regions) or cool air-conditioning air (in warm regions) disappears.
On a thermal image, warm objects stand out well against cooler backgrounds making it very easy to map the following:
On a thermal image, warm objects stand out well against cooler backgrounds. This makes it easy to identify un-insulated constructions and thermal bridges.
Original source: Rockwool