Mid-century plant stand

Vac TO THE FUTURE

Just as our vacuum cleaners have become greener over the decades, smart meters are helping make our homes – and the country – more sustainable

That feeling of satisfaction you get after you’ve run your vacuum cleaner around the house cannot be underestimated. Like any chore, you might need to psych yourself up to get started, but once the job’s done and your carpet looks brighter and your wooden floor is free of fluff, the effort is all worth it. And let’s face it, vacuum cleaners have come a long way over the years, so at least your lightweight, cordless machine is a joy to use compared to the unwieldy, power-hungry cleaners of yesterday!

Another small step we can take to start making our homes more energy efficient is getting a smart meter installed. It won’t revolutionise the way your home functions overnight, but it will help you take control of your energy bills and domestic carbon footprint by telling you in near-real time how much energy you’re using in pounds and pence. Once you know that, you can start making changes at home that will not only save you money, but also help you do your bit for the environment. In short, smart meters are a win-win!

Why get a smart meter?

50%

of smart meter owners think their gas and electricity use has reduced since they had a smart meter installed

If every UK household took action on energy efficiency now, we could save up to

The average UK household spends an estimated £35 per year

leaving electronic devices on standby

54 million tonnes

of carbon dioxide

The battle against dust

It’s no new struggle. We’ve been fighting household dust since time immemorial. Invented by Hubert Cecil Booth, an engineer born in Gloucester, Puffing Billy was the first powered ‘vacuum cleaner’. The horse-drawn carriage would pull up to buildings, fire up a 5hp oil engine, and a cleaner would poke the hose through the windows to do some vacuuming. Through the years, the heavy, wheezing cleaners of the 1960s and earlier slowly gave way to lighter models in the 1980s, before Dyson kicked off the bagless revolution in the 1990s.

Today, we enjoy a wealth of lightweight, cordless, bagless, energyefficient options. Many of us have even opted for robot vacuum cleaners that circulate the home automatically, avoiding obstacles and hoovering up dust of their own accord, allowing their owners to get on with something altogether more enjoyable.

In the future, it’s likely that this kind of smart vacuum technology will become even more advanced and commonplace in UK homes, and the increasing demand for these appliances to be more energy efficient is a challenge being met headon by manufacturers. Since 2017, vacuum cleaners across the EU have been limited in how much power they can use, but according to a Which? study, there has been no negative impact on dust take up.

What’s more, if everyone in Europe switched their vacuum cleaners to the new, more efficient 90w models, we could collectively save over 6 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions – that’s the same amount of CO₂ that’s currently needed to power all the households in Belgium.

The quiet revolution

In the same way our household tech is starting to help us reduce our carbon footprint, having a smart meter in the home can help with that too. That’s thanks to its handy in-home display – a handheld digital device that sits in your house and allows you to see how much energy you’re using, as well as how much it’s costing you in pounds and pence. As soon as you start making changes around the home, such as choosing a more efficient vacuum cleaner, switching to energy-saving lightbulbs or even just turning your devices off rather than leaving them on standby, you should start to see the savings.

By getting a smart meter, you’ll be joining the millions of people across Britain who are doing their bit to reduce energy waste on a national scale. And that all adds up to an energy system that’s better at coping with the demands of the 21st century, while also making the best and most efficient use of renewable energy sources like wind and solar power. Like recycling, getting a smart meter is just another everyday environmentally friendly behaviour, so what are you waiting for?