Dear Jim,

Please can you fix it for me to have a growth strategy that recognises the importance of the role of technology in the UK’s economic growth? Whilst the chancellor of the exchequer has announced some supportive and welcome measures in his budget on Wednesday, I can’t help but feel it’s missed a bit of a trick here.

I’ve taken some time to think about it and now the dust has settled on what was, to be fair, a budget that was always going to be constrained in what it could deliver. However it is hard to see how emphasis can be put on ‘putting fuel into the tank of the British economy’ without attaching equal importance to the actual ‘engine’. As you well know Jim, this particular engine is the technology industry and the role it plays in underpinning every aspect of our economy, from advanced manufacturing to life sciences, creative industries to business services is all-encompassing.

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Last December, Transport Secretary Philip Hammond and Business Minister Mark Prisk outlined government policy to make 2011 the year of the electric car for the UK. Car manufacturers are lining up new electric cars. Energy providers are looking at the need for a smart grid to accommodate an EV infrastructure network. Many of the UK’s cities have a number of electric vehicle trials underway. But an EV network needs investment, well informed policy, and the coordination of a number of different industries.

On May 5, we are hosting the Intellect Electric Vehicle conference, bringing together government and local government policy makers, analysts, the energy industry, the automotive industry, and the ICT industry to look at the various challenges and opportunities of rolling out a EV network across the UK. The ICT industry has a key role to play across the value chain: from the car itself to the charging points, and all the critical infrastructure in between.
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Technorati Tags: Electric Vehicle Conference, ICT and EV Network, Intellect Transport and Smart Grid

Make no mistake, the Green Economy Council is a good thing, and I’m delighted to see the ICT sector fully engaged in it. But while I’m encouraged that government is listening to, or at least talking face to face, with business, I don’t think we should underestimate the task we have ahead of us. (more…)

Technorati Tags: council, decarbonise, department, Economy, emissions, energy, gec, Green, reduction, supply, targets, transport

If you hadn’t heard yet, on Thursday last week, OFGEM finally announced a launch date for its long awaited Smart Metering Prospectus: Wednesday, 04 August.

It’s going to be a big day for Smart Metering in the UK and I’d suggest that all those with an interest in the industry mark the date in their diaries with a big, brightly coloured highlighter.

The prospectus aims to clear up uncertainty around issues such as standardisation, the roll-out implementation framework, and consumer engagement. In keeping with the large-scale project that it has been written for, it’s expected to be rather large itself – rumour has it the prospectus is currently weighing in at a hefty 500 pages.

It’s going to make for vital reading and, once it’s released, my stoic colleagues and I intend to start ploughing through it immediately, in order to offer a response as quickly as possible.

Technorati Tags: Ofgem, smart grids, Smart metering

Thomas Train

The ‘Sage of Omaha’ Warren Buffet has just bought one of America’s largest freight railway firms, Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) for $26bn in an “all-in wager” of America’s economic future.

He could have gotten a big chunk of a UK bank for that price, but Mr Buffet thinks that ‘railroads will get a decent return’ and will underpin a low-carbon economy in the future. With efficiency much higher than any other transport mode for goods, railroads will probably become a hot-potato for politicians as well (for some it already is).

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Technorati Tags: infrastrucutre for future, railroads, transport and technology

Are we witnessing an EU awakening to the role ICT plays in creating a flourishing and sustainable European society? Looking at the recently published proposal for ‘A Green Knowledge Society: An ICT policy agenda to 2015 for Europe’s future knowledge society’ by the Swedish EU presidency one would think so. More so, the European Commission has also recently adopted the recommendation of mobilising ICT to facilitate the transition to an energy-efficient, low-carbon economy. It looks good on paper if nothing else.

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Technorati Tags: EU ICT Policy, holistic ICT approach

The relationship between privacy issues and smart metering was always going to be fraught with concern. As such, I was interested to read this article which includes a summary of some of the key issues being faced in Canada and Netherlands. Firstly, to Canada, where law-enforcers have monitored energy usage as part of gathering evidence against suspected marijuana growers. Clever, eh? However, in court, the judge dismissed the ammeter as a source of evidence for reasons of invasion of privacy; it transpired that the police hadn’t obtained the necessary search warrant to use it. Not such a smart move after all.
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Technorati Tags: smart meters

Although this time of the year is known as the silly season there is clearly some smart thinking going on.

I came across this article published yesterday about ‘Smart Grid 2.0: ‘The Soft Grid’. The ‘Soft Grid’ referred to here is an emerging market segment described as the ‘countless new applications needed to improve the generation, distribution, consumption and monitoring of the Grid’. (Contrast the ‘smart grid’, which, generally speaking, refers to infrastructure hardware.) The potential of this ‘intelligent software’ is noted and comparison to Apple’s approach to the third-party development of applications for its products is made.
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Technorati Tags: Smart Grid, soft grid, software

Yesterday, the Department for Energy and Climate Change’s consultation on smart metering for electricity and gas closed. As consumer groups and energy companies took to the airwaves, I expect the printers at 3 Whitehall Place were working overtime as a no-doubt plethora of responses from a range of interested parties were being churned out to make a long summer reading list for the officials involved.

Amongst others, the Energy Networks Association, and the Energy Retail Association have submitted responses urging the Government to make decisions quickly. This is a view that I agree with. Talking to Intellect’s members, there is no doubt there is genuine enthusiasm and excitement with regard to the roll-out of smart meters. As such, the Government’s response to this consultation will be eagerly awaited.

So what did Intellect’s response say?
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Technorati Tags: smart meters

An interesting posting appeared on Google’s public policy blog yesterday which once again set out not only their support for smart meters but what they are doing to better leverage their use. One key part of this is the Google PowerMeter. In brief, it will enable users to access information about their own energy use on their iGoogle home page. This reminds me of an earlier posting which highlighted that it is possible to receive updates about your home’s energy use via Twitter.
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Technorati Tags: Google, smart meters