Two interesting and contrasting articles looking at the challenges of motivating residential customers to engage and utilize the smart grid. The first echoes a theme we have long advocated: widespread acceptance of many smart grid applications will depend upon economical incentives. Smart markets anyone? The second presents a confusing viewpoint, summarized by Alex Laskey (president of Opower) comments that “… while there is a high level of interest among the general public in doing the right thing, there is very low actual engagement: “90% of people say saving energy is important to them, but no one wakes up thinking about it. It is not economic signals that drive people to change their behavior. The average person spends just 6 minutes a year thinking about energy issues, so the question is how do we get them to think about it and make changes in their everyday lives?”
Hmm… what is the best way to get someone focused on something? We believe – unlike Mr. Laskey – that money talks. Here are the two articles below.
The first, via Smart Energy Portal,
Residential energy management is considered a big piece of Smart Grid benefits. But the industry must do a better job of clarifying what those benefits mean to residents. Hand waving explanations and reliance on ratepayer faith in the local utility just won’t work anymore.
A report issued by Accenture, based on a survey of more than 9,000 consumers in 17 countries, found that the majority don’t want utilities to manage their electricity usage without paying generously for the privilege. Only 29 percent of consumers trust their electricity suppliers to help them optimize their electricity use. (See article Consumers Unwilling to Allow Electricity Suppliers to Remotely Limit Energy Use Without Significant Price Discount.)
This consumer reluctance could be a significant speed bump in Smart Grid development and application because energy management and optimization is what Smart Grid is mostly all about.
Then there’s the surprising strength and recent growth of public distrust of government and big corporations.
A recent Pew Research Center poll (Distrust, Discontent, Anger and Partisan Rancor) found that only 22 percent of Americans trust the federal government to do the right thing most of the time. Almost half of the poll respondents think the government has a negative effect on their day-to-day lives. Americans tend to see both the government and big business in the same light – only about 25 percent said either one has a positive impact on the nation.
Combining and summarizing the implications of these reports, it looks like most consumers don’t even want a utility to manage their energy use unless it pays generously for the privilege. They also don’t have much trust that a big company, like a utility, can do it right.
Then there’s the privacy issue – consumers are wary of anyone monitoring their household activities – even if it’s just keeping track of appliance use.
They’re also suspicious that, whatever is done, it probably isn’t for the consumer benefit anyway. Somebody’s making a buck, and it sure isn’t the little guy.
Needless to say, the majority of the respondents probably won’t be swayed by a Department of Energy argument that residential Smart Grid gadgets are good for people and good for the planet. And the offer to enable folks to monitor their household electrical usage, as joyous and intriguing as that may be, will soon wear thin. Like watching paint dry.
Widespread acceptance of many smart grid applications will depend upon economical incentives.
And these better be clear, near term and significant.
The second, via CleanTechies,
Using state-of-art video technology, 12 energy experts met simultaneously in London, Washington DC and São Paulo to discuss the technological, behavioral and policy solutions to help the world achieve long-term energy goals.
The event was called Global Energy Conversation and it attracted the participation of 1,300 people worldwide. It was promoted by the Economist’s Intelligence Unit.
Unanimity amongst debaters was that energy efficiency, especially amongst OECD countries, is “one of the most important levers for reducing carbon emissions in the short term”. They also stressed the importance of smart grids, carbon capture and storage for containing industrial emissions.
Paulo Puterman, director of Inovah Energy said that developing countries should grow with renewable energy. He added that “putting IT into the grid … is the direction we should be going in”.
Participants of the event took part of a live poll. 65% of respondents said they would support policies designed to combat climate change, even if it meant a 5% reduction in their real income. However, an earlier poll by The Economist Intelligence Unit found that only 26% of the general public would be supportive of such policies.
Alex Laskey, president of Opower cautioned that while there is a high level of interest among the general public in doing the right thing, there is very low actual engagement: “90% of people say saving energy is important to them, but no one wakes up thinking about it. It is not economic signals that drive people to change their behavior. The average person spends just 6 minutes a year thinking about energy issues, so the question is how do we get them to think about it and make changes in their everyday lives?”
Governments and policy makers have a big role to play in fixing the energy problem, but in another live poll taken during the event, 56% of respondents felt that democracy currently stands in the way of the world making headway on climate change. “All too often policies are driven by political timescales,” said Joan MacNaughton, World Energy Council. “A cultural shift is driven by policy or law – the real concern is that it will take too long. We need to get these changes through quickly and governments need to focus on the engagement issue to accelerate the point at which we decide we cannot carry on the way we are.”
Speakers agreed that it has to start with policy and regulation first and if this is put in place then technologies and solutions will be implemented because everyone’s interests are aligned. “Business needs to engage with Governments,” said Laskey. “Government is at its best when it rewards outcomes not input.”
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