Last week was a very interesting week in the UK media, which points an important lesson to those in Government who believe that it’s easy to get people to change behaviour and reduce their energy consumption. It also resulted in my digging out some interesting statistics about the value of smart metering and how we can most effectively reduce CO2 emissions.
Bluetooth. From Wii to wee.
There are certain products that I’ve always wanted to see appear on the market. Not necessarily because I want to have one, but because they appeal to the imagination and the concept of what it’s possible to do. One of these is the Bluetooth toilet. It’s a product I’ve suggested should exist in various presentations I’ve given over the years as an example of something that may initially sound silly, but could be quite useful. My argument is that amongst other things it could be a valid way of checking how often a toilet is used, which could be an early indicator for prostate cancer. Normally you can count on the Consumer Electronics Show – CES, which kicked off in Las Vegas this week, for some fairly off-the wall, wacky products, but as far as the Bluetooth toilet is concerned, someone else got in first.
The first company that I’m aware of to wirelessly enable a toilet was Greengoose, who have a sensor that you can fit to the toilet seat to determine whether or not it’s been left up by the most recent male user. They see it as a fun application, and there’s nothing wrong with that. However, just before CES got going I came across a far more serious Bluetooth toilet from Lixil in Japan. There’s even a promotional video of it.
Fifty Shades of Tariff
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There’s nothing that better illustrates the sado-masochistic relationship between energy suppliers and their customers than Tariffs. They’ve evolved to be the whip that utilities deploy to beat their users into “correcting” their behaviour. That form of correction may be trying to limit the total amount of energy you use, or changing when you use it. But there’s a clear message coming through – energy suppliers want to be in control of the relationship.
It’s a concept that consumers have a problem with. Survey after survey reports the message that consumers don’t understand tariffs. They don’t even understand the word. And regulators are often less than happy with multiple or complex tariffs, because they’re aware how much they confuse people. That was highlighted in the UK earlier this year when the regulator OFGEM took the paddle to the utilities to persuade them to reduce the hundreds of tariffs in the UK to a few simple ones. But that doesn’t stop utilities fantasising about a future where they can run riot with tariffs. The most extreme example is now being constructed in the UK as part of the British smart metering specifications. These allow a level of complexity that makes the most diabolic tortures devised by the Inquisition look simple. Fighting the consumer interest corner is our Energy regulator – OFGEM, which is about to give up on persuasion and start meting out some punishment itself.
There are some valid reasons for considering complex tariffs, but these need to include consumer engagement as a fundamental feature of their development. What is happening instead, particularly in theUK, is that tariffing structures are being developed as a technical exercise. They are now so complex that they threaten the interoperability, cost and usability of the British smart metering roll-out, setting smart metering up to be the next major UK Government IT disaster.
The Smart Gasman Cometh – a Smart Metering Song
It’s almost exactly fifty years since Flanders and Swann wrote their classic comic song “The Gasman Cometh”. With the advent of smart metering it seemed an appropriate time to update it, and give all those involved in smart metering something to sing at their Christmas parties. I’d also recommend singing it whilst reading DECC’s First Annual Progress Report on the Roll-out of Smart Meters. It has the advantage of being considerably shorter.
Twas on a Monday morning,
The gasman came to call.
My meter wouldn’t work,
It wasn’t being smart at all.
He put another meter in,
It took him several hours.
But it couldn’t send a reading, as the comms hub wasn’t powered!
Oh, it all makes work,
For the working man to do!
3D Printing, Kickstarter and the TSB
Today, the UK’s Technology Strategy Board (TSB) announced a funding competition to develop new 3D printing technology. It’s called “Inspiring new design freedoms in additive manufacturing / 3d printing” and is offering funding from £100k to £1.5milion for collaborative, business-led design projects to overcome some of the “dirty secrets” of 3D printing, or additive manufacturing, with a total funding pot of £7 million.
Over the last year I’ve been watching the rise of 3D printing projects on Kickstarter, as they’ve progressed from fairly simple ones to the more recent, high profiles successes, such as the Formlabs Form 1 3D printer, which is a project to commercialise a printer, software and compounds. That one project alone has attracted just under $3 million in funding from over 2,000 backers, over 1,000 of whom will end up with 3D printers by next May.
Which made me wonder what the TSB is going to use my tax-payer’s money for in this competition, as it looks as if there is already a perfectly workable funding model to develop 3D printers. Or do they think that 3D stands for Dead Duck Donations?
Wireless Security for the Internet of Things
If you believe the futurologists, then the Internet of Things (IoT) is going to be the next big thing. Depending on who you listen to, by 2020 there will be up to 50 billion connected devices, an order of magnitude greater than the number of mobile phones. You can already see the start of that, whether it’s smart meters, connected information signs, or the increasing number of fitness devices, like Fitbit and Nike’s Fuel wristband. To get a better idea of what else may be emerging to make up that number, a good place to start is Kickstarter – the website for crowd-sourced funding. It shows that a significant number of potential start-ups are looking for money to produce a bewildering array of gateways and sensors.
It’s great that there is so much innovation going on in this area. I’ve been trying to help it take off for almost two decades and at last I can convincingly say it’s happening. But underneath the enthusiasm, I’m concerned that not enough attention is being given to security.
A few weeks ago, a speaker at a security conference in Australia talked about wireless attacks on pacemakers. Possibly because of the combined press frenzy around Superstorm Sandy, Obama’s re-election and Jimmy Savile, that piece of information wasn’t picked up by the mass media. At the same time, I’ve been playing with some of the latest consumer products that have come to market and found very little evidence of security. In fact, recent coverage in the technical press suggests there is a worrying feeling of complacency. I suspect that may be because wireless and end-to-end security is a new concept for many of the engineers designing IoT devices. But it is important that it makes its way onto the agenda, otherwise it may seriously impact the potential for growth.