Water Again

Still Easy To Waste

Back before I could spell "litre" (apparently) I asked this question. Still asking, by the way . . .

A large proportion of the Aussie population have an energy provider that provides an online account and usage tracking page. This is a pretty under-used facility, because data and information equals power. No, not energy, just the power to monitor your household's energy usage and adapt / alter / test and swing your energy usage to your advantage. 

According to an industry insider I hear a rumour that there are ways to monitor that direct off the meter using - I don't know exactly, not that power monitor thing that we keep getting bombarded with spam to have installed for free, but something already in the meters. 

Before I drop this sidetrack, let me just say that using our provider's account usage tracking, we worked out that leaving the AC on overnight at a reduced setting and then increasing it by day was cheaper than turning it off and having to recover all the thermal losses. And that our hot water system is one of the first things I'd speak to the landlord about if there was a chance... Three bucks a day, over a quarter of our bill... 

I reckon one reason our 'smart meters' aren't quite smart enough to allow us to access them via wifi and have an instant read of our power consumption is because if we had such fine-grained information we could use a LOT less energy, and then where would those greedy sons-of-hogs-at-the-trough be? 

Now Back To The Question

Which is: Why can't we have smart water meters? They can be powered by the flow of water when you turn on a tap, and would provide critical information for households wanting to save money - and more importantly, water. 

It almost seems as if we're not allowed the tools to resist consumerism, doesn't it? As if the destruction of the planet IS the point, instead of the saving of it. 

---

You may have seen here and there that I'm really really into doing something about - everything - that's going on around the world in the areas of climate change, waste accumulation, fossil fuel pollution and its companion, decarbonisation, renewable and sustainable energy, small scale recycling, and letting you and everyone else that I can reach know about all these things. You can help by sharing the heck out of my articles like this because the more people see it the more people will talk about it and the more people talk about it the more people will DO SOMETHING about it - be that email their local government member, email a CEO like the CEO of AGL and tell them you don't want any more of their pollution and greed, sign petitions, and maybe go to a demonstration to let the whole world know how they feel.

Heck, they might even read about plastic recycling and do guerilla plastic recycling at home. . . Or recycle their food waste into their vegetable garden. All sorts of anarchy could result. 

And all it takes is for you to share the link to this article on your favourite social network, or text it to a friend. . . Or even donating so that I can keep the servers running and domain names paid for with some of your money instead always my pension. . .  Not kidding, this costs me hundreds every year. And I pay it out of a pension that was recognised as being well below the poverty line 20 years ago and has gone backwards since then. I could really do with the help. 

So yes, please share this article and my others like it, go to my News Stand to see all my other posts and share links to the News Stand and any articles you found interesting, and if you can, donate here or here and find out here why it's important. Or subscribe to my once a week newsletter and stay in the loop. Thank you for being here and reading.