Power to the people: householders get better feedback on energy use

At a time of rising energy prices and utility bills, more and more householders are asking themselves how they can save money. Oxford University and the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC) today launch a new free online tool to help them. Initial trials with imeasure show wide variations (ten- to twenty-fold) in home energy use, suggesting major opportunities for savings.

Research suggests that simply providing people with better feedback on their energy use is one of the most cost-effective ways to produce savings. Oxford University's Environmental Change Institute (ECI) and UKERC have designed a new free online energy tool called imeasure that provides more accurate information to householders. An initial trial of the imeasure tool has revealed there are wide variations in energy use and carbon emissions between apparently similar households - with a difference of up to 20 fold between the highest and lowest users.

The online tool imeasure is not a carbon calculator, but an energy-use monitor based on the gas and electricity meter readings entered by the householder. It provides immediate personalised results based on the amount of energy the householder has used and how much carbon dioxide this has produced.

A further distinction is that people can compare their results with those of other users, and get their 'carbon label'. An 'A' grade means that your household is on target for meeting the UK Government's aim of a 60 per cent carbon emission reduction whereas a 'G' grade means that you are three times higher than the average.

imeasure has been created by UKERC (the UK Energy Research Centre) and Oxford University's Environmental Change Institute, a national leader in domestic energy use.Researcher and co-inventor Catherine Bottrill, from the ECI, said: ' Everyone wants to find better ways to save energy, yet we have remarkably little public data about actual household energy use. Our imeasure tool is not only a chance for people to learn about their own energy use and save money, but also to contribute, anonymously, to a ground-breaking citizen science project. The more imeasure users we attract, the better our analysis will be.'

In spite of the plethora of carbon calculators available online to the public, an in-depth review of almost 30 of them by the ECI found many fall short of providing people with accurate and personalised information about their home energy use and carbon emissions.

Catherine Bottrill added: 'There is very limited energy data available to study household energy use. The last dataset, the 1996 English Housing Condition Survey, is now over 10 years old and no longer relevant. We urgently need good current data to find ideas for creating a low carbon, money-saving household sector.'

Co-inventor Dr Russell Layberry, from the ECI, said: 'We have carried out trials of imeasure over a year with 100 people, but now want to open it up to many more people to get a much stronger understanding of the patterns in household energy use. To encourage friendly competition, imeasure allows individuals to come together in their own "carbon clubs"