In future, water also must be smart
For now, the focus in smart metering is mostly on electricity, though dual electric-gas smart meters have already made their way into some households across Europe and the US. Smart metering, though, will eventually train the spotlight on consumption habits for yet another precious resource: water.
It’s all part of the greater smart-grid/smart-city vision, where everything from ground-source heat pumps and plug-in cars to microturbine energy output and city-centre traffic congestion are monitored, measured and even controlled through a network of devices designed to reduce waste and maximise efficiency in every aspect of modern life.
The extension of “smart” services from mere electricity to many other areas creates vast new opportunities again in a market reality already rife with opportunity. And smart metering firms with recognised names in the electricity niche aren’t ignoring the potential to branch out.
Switzerland-based Landis+Gyr, for example, has wrapped up a “total metering solution” for Denmark’s Energi Fyn and the utility’s 81,000 customers.
Similarly, Itron is working on an automated meter reading (AMR) project with the UK’s Severn Trent Water, which provides service to some 8 million customers. As part of the project, Itron expects to roll out some 400,000 smart water meters for households by 2013.
Echelon’s LonWorks system has even made possible a symbol not of conservation but of conspicuous consumption: the Las Vegas-based Bellagio Hotel’s 27-million-gallon lake and dramatic water display. Even in the setting of “Sin City,” a certain amount of frugality is critical: the hotel needed smart technology to ensure uninterrupted power, water leak prevention and real-time monitoring to ensure maximum performance efficiency.
It all goes to show that — on the consumption end as well as the production side (water is a critical resource in electricity generation, particularly in coal-fired and nuclear power plants) — managing water use will be as important an element of tomorrow’s smart cities as will be managing electricity or gas consumption. And today’s truly smart smart-metering companies recognise that.
