A deal announced today could help British Gas customers slash their energy bills and their carbon footprint.
Centrica, which owns British Gas, will trial the AlertMe Energy Kit, a new energy-saving system that constantly monitors and controls individual appliances and devices within the home, and also measures and automatically manages a home’s overall energy usage.
The online system monitors conditions such as temperature and can send email and text updates to the homeowner, who can then remotely adjust controls, turn off switches and plan water usage for non-peak times through a mobile phone or computer.
Last week the Government released the White Paper for climate change, and set emissions targets for 2020. AlertMe CEO Pilgrim Beart believes the system can help the UK achieve these ambitious goals. He told ClickGreen: “Meeting the Kyoto -30 percent carbon reduction target by 2020 is very challenging, since we won’t have built a substantial quantity of renewables by then. AlertMe can act quickly and cost effectively to substantially reduce consumption.
“Consumers are feeling the pinch on energy costs, both because of increasing oil prices and energy taxes, and now the credit crunch. Household energy bills account for about nine percent of disposable household income, which is a big chunk. But today, consumers have no visibility on where the energy is being consumed in their house, so they can’t act to change it. AlertMe redresses the balance, putting consumers in control.
“AlertMe can drive down consumption in the home by 20-25 percent, which if deployed in all households would be equivalent in carbon terms to taking half the cars off the road.”
The partnership between Centrica and AlertMe will also involve development of microgeneration, solar PV, solar thermal and energy-storage technologies.
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