Breaking Strain of a Warm Mars Bar

The race is on to find the “cookie cutter” product that will revolutionise the way we manage energy in our homes. At the recent Ecobuild show there were a plethora of gadgets designed to offer new ways to control energy consumption.

But I don't believe all these new products are going to deliver remarkable reductions in energy usage for one very simple reason – we are intrinsically lazy. The majority – that is the silent majority - can't be bothered to do what it takes, i.e. be consistent.

Take me. With the breaking strain of a warm Mars bar I will do only those things that are easy and don't significantly disrupt my lifestyle. Of course I'll tell you that I re-cycle everything including my toe nail clippings because it will make me feel good. But in reality no one's looking, so what the hell.

Some 75% of consumers form the sustainable mainstream and are happy to buy a “sustainable product”, provided that it doesn’t cost more and performs as well as a standard product So many products require you to make a sacrifice and give something up. This hairshirt approach wants you to give something up to save the world. But it has a limited appeal. I might have a go at something for a while but once the first flush of enthusiasm has passed, my interest will fade and I'll revert to my former (bad) habits.

Too many developers of energy reduction products assume that the first thing I think about in the morning is how I can save energy. Energy prices for consumers (with the notable exception of those mired in fuel poverty) are too low and not a significant proportion of incomes to matter.

The systems that will succeed will be very simple to operate, almost certainly on a PC, i-Phone or i-Pad type device. It will set up easily and will learn about your preferences and habits. Adjustments will be one or two touch and will be able to be carried out from any location. Crucially we will value these products for the things they do, other than energy management

The false industry mantra is, that if you give consumers information about energy, they'll modify their behaviour accordingly.

A smart meter does not however make a smart consumer.

Frankly, we would rather watch Celebrity Shopping Trolley Racing from Dubai on Sky Sports 17 than study endless graphs showing a 80p rise in our energy consumption. What we do want is a gadget that is in a familiar format, one that advises us if our consumption is higher than normal and one that tells us of any potential actions to reduce it (automatically obviously, we are couch potatoes after all). That gadget could also tells us that if we delay using the dishwasher until the middle of the night we can half the cost.

Now we’re interested.