London, 25th March 2010
The Budget announcement of a £2 billion Green Investment Bank has been welcomed by a wide range of organisations with an interest in the development of a low carbon economy, says Peta Hodge in Green Wise Business. Read it here.
London, 17th March 2010
Onzo’s Head of Innovations, Ben Pirt, is just back from presenting at the World Meter Design Congress – part of Metering America 2010 in San Diego.
Two of the highlights of the congress were Anne Shen-Smith from San Diego Gas & Electric and Craig Boice from Boice Dunham Group. Both focussed strongly on the role of the customer in the rapidly developing world of smart metering, and demand reduction and energy efficiency. They talked about why utilities need to understand their customers and be willing to work with them if they want customers to take on board what they’re trying to accomplish. Anne and Craig also pointed out that some human interaction goes a long way towards achieving this.
Banks, telecom companies, and supermarkets have all had to go through the same customer engagement process, which means there is a wealth of information and theories for utilities to build on, and there are lots of people like Craig and Anne who are trying to help them through this process.
In Onzo’s presentation, Ben talked about the effect of design on behaviour change, with a focus specifically on meter design. The message was that few people seem to link together the impact of the hard edge of technical design with the softer one of behaviour change, yet this is one of the tools we can use to help people form a better understanding of their energy behaviour; as Craig has said earlier, “customers want tools”. Moreover, if you get better data out of the meter, you can do more interesting and useful things with it, which can also help to change behaviour (so long, of course, as the information is clearly presented). Perhaps Edward Tufte, master of information communication, should be taken as inspiration.
You can see the presentation slides online.
London, 12th March 2010
A letter from Joel Hagan, CEO commenting on the Conservative Party’s plans to inspire people to use less energy has been published in this week’s edition of Utility Week. Read his letter by clicking on the link below.
London, 3rd March 2010
Onzo’s response to the government’s green loans scheme has been published in Greener Business. Read it here.
London, 3rd March 2010
Onzo’s Business Development Director for Europe, Neil Farish, will be attending Smart Metering Scandinavia, which will run next week from 10th to 11th March in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Smart Metering Scandinavia 2010 is the 3rd edition of the annual conference that brings together high level industry speakers who will discuss the next steps in smart metering.
If you would like to meet Neil while he is there please write to neil.farish@onzo.com or ring Onzo on +44(0) 20 3051 3270 and we will put you in touch.
London, 3rd March 2010
Onzo’s Head of Innovations, Ben Pirt, will be attending Metering, Billing/CRM America next week and speaking at the World Metering Design Congress on Tuesday 9th March 2010.
Metering, Billing/CRM America is taking place in San Diego Marriott Hotel, San Diego from 7th to 10th March 2010. It is North America’s 11th annual premium metering, billing and customer management conference and exhibition and is “is specifically designed to help all participants in the utility space to devise favorable business models and valuable commercial partnerships that ensure the highest possible return on investment.”
Ben will be speaking at the 3rd World Meter Design Congress, which will run from March 7th to 9th 2010 in San Diego. The event “focuses on how meter design engineers, system architects, research engineers and production professionals can make and design the meter smarter, faster, cheaper and more energy-efficient.”
If you would like to meet Ben while he is there please write to ben.pirt@onzo.com or ring Onzo on +44(0) 20 3051 3270 and we will put you in touch.
London, 2nd March 2010
New Energy Focus has included in an article Onzo’s response to the government’s recently released “Warm Homes, Greener Homes Strategy” in which householders are to be loaned money to help them install renewable technologies and make their homes more energy efficient. Read it here.