Energy meters may be growing too smart for their own good, according to the findings of a survey published this month.
New research by software testing specialists SQS (Software Quality Systems) – based on a survey carried out by YouGov on 2058 adults – claims many of us are suspicious about the technology’s ability to compromise our private data.
Energy suppliers have been asked by the government to install 50 million smart meters in UK homes by 2020 in a campaign that will cost £10.6 billion. The meters themselves will not reduce energy consumption or cut bills but it is hoped enabling us to see the costs of energy usage in real time will encourage efficiency and see an average annual costs saving of £26.
It seems, however, more than a third (37 per cent) of consumers are convinced smart meters will be there simply to spy on us, with the data benefitting energy suppliers more than householders.
In the survey, 56 per cent were of the opinion the attraction of additional consumer data is the real reason for the move.
And almost a third (30 per cent) say they are worried that smart meter technology could be open to hacking and cyber crimes.
The report concludes it is important that suppliers of the smart meters educate customers on the benefits of the technology ahead of the proposed UK roll-out.
Despite the consumer fears expressed in SQS’s research, industry analysts are predicting advanced IT development and associated hardware will actually boost the energy and environmental industries in 2015.
In fact, this year it’s expected we will personally experience the blossoming of green ITs . . . and using smart meters in our homes to help understand how much energy we use is just the beginning.
2015 will be the year our growing environmental conscience is maximised through IT, from real-time documenting of personal effects on the environment through our cars and houses, to the conservation and optimization of agriculture and manufacturing.
With the help of new programs, applications, devices and artificial intelligence, it’s predicted we will better control, distribute and see the effect of resource consumption and expansion on our businesses and lifestyles.
If proof of the green benefits of Information Technology were needed, it was found in none other than the King of IT, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who this week toasted the software behind a new facility bringing clean water to Senegal . . . by drinking H2O created from human waste.
The OmniProcessor, a low-cost, hi-tech treatment plant, now has the official backing of the Gates Foundation.
“I watched the piles of faeces go up the conveyer belt and drop into a large bin,” says Bill cheerily on his blog. “They made their way through the machine, getting boiled and treated. A few minutes later I took a long taste of the end result: a glass of delicious drinking water.”
The future of technology really is going green . . . even if sometimes that’s around the gills!
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