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SmartNow NZ Locations: Nation Wide Smart monitoring systems to help you recognise energy waste to then take action on changing. The ENVI-R is here with the ability for exact meter data reading. The Bridge unit enables you to link directly into Google PowerMeter over your broad band connection. Energy saving tools for you to learn from and take action with. Available from your Ec...

Homestar is here!

9 Nov 10 10:47 PM

I'm not going to knock Homestar, I'm just going to say, it's a great start! Filled it out and I get a 5 star rating out of 10.

I think 5 stars is terrible but then I don't know how that compares to others in NZ. 5 stars maybe the highest for my type of home. I don't think so personally it's just I expected more as I know how much it costs to run my house for a year.

So there are some assumptions made, you just need to give it a go and take the learnings and possible upgrades and continue your journey.
Find out more www.homestar.org.nz

Smart grids or smarter use of existing infrastructures

9 Nov 10 10:38 PM

This is not an attack on Smart Grids. This is just a formulation of a question that I'm pretty sure will be answered.

I love the idea of a Smart Grid. I see it as a right rather than a question of whether we need one.

To my understanding, a Smart Grid enables information to flow from an end-user's meter to the energy supplier then back to the end-user for visual on usage - or from the end-user's meter to the end-user for visual on usage.

So it feeds not only the supplier but the end-users as well. Now I do know that many with so-called Smart Meters feel a little left out of the information loop. Many who have complained have done so because information has not been available when they want it or they just don't feel they get any value from it.

The fact is, people are wanting more information. The question is, can you give them the information in a format that suits their lifestyle?

I bank online, I watch movies online, talk to family and friends online and I use Google PowerMeter online to literally watch what I spend. All these things are a part of my lifestyle. To use these I use fibre to my door. These things I see as a right as I pay for it.

I do expect to see energy added to the lists of an ever-increasing circle of consumers whose lifestyles will include caring about where their money is going.

If we can get our meters talking through our broadband, which is an existing part of many people's existing lifestyles, then I would say that's a smarter use of an existing grid.

Are you really doing your best in your home?

9 Nov 10 10:35 PM

Are we really doing our bit for energy savings?

I spent this last weekend in Otaki at the little beach hut we call a bach. It's a nice reminder of how simply we can live without the electronics and communications devices that are part of our everyday business and play. I must admit that we have a TV at the bach, but it doesn't work and we have a microwave that performs like the TV.

I looked at the appliances and lighting at the hut - four lights and three wall plugs. I'm sure we used more energy in our home in Wellington during our time away than we did at the bach!

We are comfortable with the small hut as it's only for short stays. Sure, the lighting is not like the 340 lux at 1.1 metres at home in the city, we don't have Sky nor the 300W home theatre system waiting for us to turn it on when boredom justifies the energy use.

But do we need it? At the hut, my kids play more together, I read more and my wife talks more. We spend more time with each other with energy being the last thing that we engage with as it's usually for preparing food and bedtime reading.

I am now thinking we may sell our Wellington energy efficient home because it's not really efficient. If it was it would be a two bedroom open plan hut with four lights and three wall plugs.

Do we understand limited resources at home

9 Nov 10 10:34 PM

Understanding the cost of energy is very hard to fathom for many. To highlight this, if I ask you to lower your energy use because it's bad for the environment. Are you going to say "sure thanks for letting me know"

Do you know what's happening with your switching on of an appliance? Most people don't, some people have an understanding and that understanding maybe wrong.
In NZ we have just enough energy to supply everyone in NZ and we use around 70% renewable generation. So we're good for the right kind of energy generation, but we are a growing country and are plugging in more and more items. To combat this NZ has a government agency called EECA reminding us to be more energy efficient on TV. But I'm not sure we giving the right message by telling people to be energy efficient is enough.
If it was enough the marketing would work and we wouldn't have an issue. The reason is because I am in the same boat as many others, which is "nice to know but so what"

It's the 'so what' I'd like to bring up to wrap around the premise of this blog "Do we understand limited resources at home"

If NZ or any country is running low on energy, why dont the energy companies let the end users know.
To highlight human behavior, when you're at home and someone told you to diet, does that stop you from raiding the fridge? If someone says we're running low on food and we need it to last us the week, will you make an effort to make that resource last the distance?
Should the Energy companies and Government Agencies then change the way we are marketing?
I would say they wouldn't. I've worked with marketers from Energy companies, they're so removed from reality that I would expect they are better off marketing for the Hilton sisters.

So the question I pose is this, if limited resources is the reason we market energy efficiency then is it better to give us the "so what" If not why not?