Using information to lower your carbon footprint
Sounds great, sign me up!
Love your enthusiasm (must say, it’s a little unusual)…
Focus!
You’re right.
Like many, we’re using smart meters and online portals to see what energy we’re using at any one time. Good for us and good for the planet.
But not making the most of the collected information that’s out there.
How much of the energy that’s being produced in the UK is coming from renewable systems right now? How do we evolve our usage patterns to ensure the power generators can move away from fossil fuels and gas?
Tools like Ovo’s Greenlight aim to do just that.
By letting us see where the grid’s energy is coming from, we can make the decision to do (or switch off) a major energy task like running the washing machine – when is the best time to do it for the planet? Let’s look at what we get.
So now is not the time! Let’s dive into “See 48 hrs carbon forecast”…
So, we’ll wait to put the washing on until a bit later today and might team that up for when we’re producing enough solar. Thanks Ovo.
But that’s not really the point. Energy management is going to allow countries like the UK make that move towards renewable energy across the country rather than at the microsource without risking brown-outs.
Building new houses with heat source pumps and solar cells help, but for some older houses, retrofitting such technology (especially heat source pumps) is not going to be possible. Building new houses uses a lot of energy – so knocking down the old is not the answer.
Perhaps these tool help resolve that divide.
Posted: May 20th, 2021 under Driving off the grid.