A project funded under the government’s ‘smart meter based, internet of things’ innovation stream will use gas smart meter data to improve household energy efficiency.
The project, costing £35,550, will see N3rgy Data use Chameleon’s IHD7 smart meter in-home display product (already in deployment as part of the smart meter rollout), which has a dormant temperature sensor built in.
With firmware changes delivered remotely, the company will take temperature data from within the home and send it back via the smart metering in the form of standard system ‘alert’ messages to energy supplier Green Energy UK (GEUK).
The N3rgy Data platform will use outside temperature data obtained from weather-reporting sources and a heat coefficient algorithm to identify the heat efficiency of consumer’s premises, using the consumer’s consented gas consumption and inside temperature data. It will analyse historic gas usage to create different archetype groups and benchmarks to compare individual homes. Tailored advice and solutions can then be presented to consumers on how to use energy at lower cost or lower carbon impact. Energy efficiency upgrade options could also be offered to the householder.
N3rgy Data use its data service platform to access temperature data and gas consumption data, with permission as an ‘authorised party’ other than an energy supplier. It will explore any changes to the Smart Energy Code that may be needed to enable smart meter system alert messages derived from in-home sensors to be made available to authorised Other Users.
Three other projects funded will be based on smart electricity data and include a City Science and the University of Exeter, which will investigate a “SmartHub” device to enable demand side response (DSR) from households. It will initially focusing on heat pump users but will use open standards to incorporate other electricity uses such as electric vehicles.