Author: Christopher Roberts

Christopher's Author Bio: Founder and editor of Technology Bloggers, Christopher is passionate about sustainable technology and environmental initiatives. He wants to popularise critical thinking, promote responsible innovation, and excite you about the world around us.

My experience of smart meters

1 Reply Christopher Roberts

This post is written in partnership with British Gas, however as always, all opinions are mine.

In December 2011 I wrote about how smart meters are the future for our electricity. The UK roll-out is well under way and I suspect that some of you (like me) now have a smart meter in your homes.

Smart what?

So what exactly is a smart meter? Brownie points need to go to whoever name it, as (unless it was named after a Mr Smart) the name is pretty self explanatory; a smart meter is a smarter version of your original gas and electricity meter.

So what makes it smart(er)? Well smart meters are going to put an end to estimated bills by feeding your energy usage directly back to your provider, removing the hassle of having to report your readings. This also means that there is no longer a need for someone to come around and read your meter.

So your bill is always timely and accurate. Isn’t that convenient!

This video by British Gas explains it a little further.

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It isn’t just your energy provider who gets data from your meter though. British Gas provide a smart energy monitor, so that you can see exactly what you are using, in real time!

A British Gas energy tracker

British Gas’s smart energy monitor

I have found this really useful, as it lets me see exactly what (gas and electricity) I am using at any given moment. I can set an ideal level of energy to use each day, and then track this with my monitor, to see whether I am over using!

The real time aspect of the monitoring does make you more conscious of what you are using. I nearly had a heart attack when I turned on the kettle! The electricity consumption shoots up to about 2.5 kilowatts of usage! I can now tell you what (almost) all of my appliances use: the vacuum is around 1.5kW, oven around 3-4kW, computer and monitor is about 0.3kW (more with speakers on though – use headphones!). I believe that being more energy conscious is saving me money – and also reducing my carbon footprint.

The smart monitor British Gas provide is really good, showing you everything from how much your energy use so far today has cost you, to how strong the WiFi connection is. The touch screen monitor comes with some on-screen tips (which you can access through the help menu) which give you ideas as to how to save money.

As I mentioned above, the meter lets you set targets as to how much energy you want to use each day, and then alarms when/if you go over. This is helping me to encourage everyone in the house to keep their usage down, so we can go later and later each day without going over the target and setting off the alarm!

I have noticed that (especially with concern to gas) my energy usage is higher in the winter than summer. This is my first year with the meter and I had it installed over the summer, but the cold and dark means we are in the house more often, using electricity and the heating more. Using the gas hob doesn’t have much of an impact at all, but whacking the boiler on for the heating and hot water certainly does.

I feel that my smart meter has given me more control over the energy I use and more flexibility in how I manage it. Smart meters get a thumbs up from me. If you have one let me know what you think in the comments below.

UK Roll-Out

Because of the benefits smart meters offer, (mainly helping to significantly reduce our carbon footprint) the UK government has stipulated that all homes and businesses will have a meter installed by 2020 – to help us meet our 2020 EU energy targets.

This means that if you live in the UK and don’t already have a smart meter, you will be getting one very soon. Which? explains how the roll-out is going to be picking up pace from 2015-2020, however if you can’t wait that long, you can get yours installed now. If you switch to British Gas, you can get one installed straight away, or if you are already a customer you can register your interest for a free upgrade here.

More

You can get more information on smart meters in British Gas’s video series on YouTube. You can also find out more about the benefits and the roll-out on their website. If you want to know more about my experience of having a smart meter, please feel free to ask me in the comments below. 🙂

S4 Mini screen protector reviews

1 Reply Christopher Roberts

This is the fourth article in a series reviewing the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini.

This week I am going to do a comparison of two different screen protectors. I have tried each protector for around a month now, so have a fairly good knowledge of them.

I am going to try a new format in this post and compare the two in a table. The two screen protectors are Anker’s Ultra-Clear Screen Protector and Muvit’s Matte and Glossy Screen Protector.

So here goes…

Anker Muvit
Image Anker S4 Mini Screen Protector Muvit S4 Mini Screen Protector
Protection
 3/5
(Stops superficial dirt and smears)		 3/5
(Stops superficial dirt and smears)
Clarity
 5/5
(Virtually invisible)		 2/5
(Quite fuzzy to look through)
Clarity over time
 4/5
(Gathers smears which wipe off)		 2/5
(No real change)
Protectors
 3 included 2 included
Ease of Application 4/5
(Easier than most)		 3/5
(Standard application)
Fit 3/5
(Leaves a bit around the camera and the button uncovered)		 4/5
(Leaves a bit around the camera uncovered)
Responsiveness 5/5
(What screen protector?!)		 4/5
(Less responsive at the sides of the screen)
Longevity 3/5
(After time occasionally peals off at edges)		 4/5
(Stays in place for a long time)
Price £3.99 (Free P&P) £9.99 (+£1.99 P&P)
Overall Four Star Two and a Half Star

So overall if you were only to buy one, buy the Anker protector, as it offers clarity, protection and responsiveness for a very good price. Had I not tried Anker’s protector, the Muvit one would probably have scored three star, however what really lets it down is the clarity. It is evident that you have a screen protector installed and the only reason to use it would be to stop your screen from getting damaged.

If you are curious about a rating – or disagree with it – let me know in the comments below.

Next Week

After my four week break I know it is dangerous to claim I know what is happening next week, but I think you can probably expect an article on a Tech21 case… but it might change!

Blog Action Day 2013

3 Replies Christopher Roberts

Blogs all across the world are talking about human rights today. For the fourth year in a row I am taking part in Blog Action Day.

Blog Action Day's logoThis year the topic is human rights.

I am going to share with you might thoughts on the relationship between the Internet and human rights.

Imagine what it would be like if every day, a cloaked figure followed you around, observing your every action and taking notes. It would be a bit creepy wouldn’t it, not to mention the privacy issues.

Back in 2011, I wrote a post asking whether everyone should be entitled to use the Internet and whether in fact it should be a human right. Founder of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg believes that it should be; make your own decision as to whether this is only because he wants more business for his site.

So, imagine what it would be like with Mark Zuckerberg following you around all day, taking notes on what you do, invading your privacy… hold on, if you are on Facebook, he kind of does.

See how I linked that. 😉

I am no stranger to complaining about Facebook, but it isn’t the only culprit, Google is also a huge threat to online privacy. It stores all information it collects about you for at least 18 months. Why? In the words of Hungry Beast, because “Google wants to know who you are, where you are and what you like, so it can target ads at you.” Check out Hungry Beast’s video to scare yourself.

So to get to the point, I don’t believe access to the Internet need be a human right, (not yet anyway) however I do believe that the right to privacy online should be. The United Nations logoArticle 12 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights states:

“No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.”

Why does this not cover our online lives too? Should Google, Amazon, Facebook, Yahoo and Apple (and others) be allowed to monitor us so much?

I shall keep this short and sweet and leave you with those thoughts.