Are smart meters good for the environment?
Smart meters are a key part of the clean energy system of the future. But why?
You may have heard about how smart meters can help us to be more efficient in the home by monitoring our energy usage in real time. What’s spoken about less is the benefit to the grid as a whole.
In this blog we talk about the environmental benefits for households, the wider environmental benefits for the UK’s electricity network; and what the future of a truly smart grid might look like.
How do smart meters help households to save energy?
If you know your home is not as energy efficient as it could be, the data your smart meter provides can help you see the impact of making simple changes. Whether that’s swapping bulbs for energy saving LEDs, using the tumble dryer less often or insulating your home, you’ll be able to quickly see if you’re using less energy.
According to Smart Energy GB, 69% of people in the UK want to use their energy in a more flexible and sustainable way, using the data shown on their smart meter to understand how changes they make affects their energy usage.
Knowing how much energy is being used each day can really help people to cut down, and therefore reduce their carbon emissions too.
How do smart meters benefit the electricity grid?
Smart meters aren’t just about saving energy at home.
At the moment, energy suppliers and the National Grid don’t have a complete, accurate picture of consumer energy demand.
We know how much you are using from the information in your monthly meter readings, and get a good estimate of daily and yearly peaks and troughs; but this hazy picture leads to energy being wasted day to day.
With updates to your energy supplier detailing how are using electricity in each half-hour of the day, smart meters give an accurate view of exactly when energy is being used, and where. This means that trading teams know how much energy to buy and sell; and energy generation and transmission as a whole will become much more efficient – helping the grid to incorporate a higher percentage of renewable electricity.
It also opens up the benefits of ‘time of use’ tariffs and grid flexibility events. We know that energy usage peaks in the morning and the early evening and is much lower in the middle of the day and overnight. However, this picture doesn’t always match up with when energy is generated – particularly renewables. Which means we are not always using electricity when it is cleanest or cheapest.
Time of use tariffs provide an incentive to you to shift your electricity use away from these peaks to better tie in with this energy generation picture, by giving you a better price. This gradual flattening of peaks and troughs can hugely cut the carbon intensity of the grid by reducing the need for fossil fuel power plants that lie idle outside of peak times.
What is a smart grid?
In the future, we see renewable generation, energy storage, smart meters and smart technologies all working together to make the grid lower carbon.
We also see households and businesses being engaged with how they use energy to flatten energy peaks and trought, saving money and helping to make the grid greener.
Very small impacts on individuals, with big environmental benefits for the planet.
Read more about smart grids and flattening the curve, in this article by our founder, Juliet.
