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million customers that, unlike conventional meters, don’t have to be read manually. They record data points every 30 minutes that are provided to customers on an hourly basis – that’s 2,880 times as many data points as a normal meter. Andre Blumberg, Senior Director, Information Technology, CLP Power Hong Kong Limited, says the firm aims to reduce its carbon emissions, with targets set all the way to 2050. One way to do this is to address the issue of consumption in the city by helping customers conserve energy. “The demand in Hong Kong for electricity fluctuates a great deal. In winter it’s cold, we don’t use heating. In the summer it’s hot so we use our air con,” he says. “Smart meters give customers more timely consumption data and an opportunity to reduce consumption during those peak times.”
The CLP app includes redeemable eco points (right)
of its citizens. And to fully achieve that, says Wong, governments could be encouraged to factor in our behaviour. “A Smart City requires people to fundamentally change their behaviour - Hong Kong is always piloting in a community where the mentality is not to accept failure. How can we try new things and think out of the box? As a culture we have to accept failure and learn from it in order to improve. When you design your Smart City, you must consider human behaviour an integral part.”
Tapping into Hongkongers’ well-known competitive streak, CLP has refreshed an app for customers that allows them to view their own consumption and use a benchmarking tool to compare with similar households – the less electricity they use, the better their grading. And to help them reduce their consumption, CLP has come up with an innovative way to incentivise customers with smart meters: notifications that offer them Eco points that can be used for online shopping if they can use less energy at peak times when they’d usually be home using their aircon and gadgets. Customers can also set alerts that notify them when projected energy consumption is higher than a certain percentage, or there is an unusual spike in usage. But it’s not all geared towards our fun “can-do” spirit. Some data collected from customers can also be used to assist the city’s elderly population. For example, a home care kit with sensors collects data and tracks elderly customers’ activity at home. If the data shows a change in what is usually repetitive daily activity, an alert is sent to a relative or caregiver for early intervention. “To me, that’s a good use of tech and it’s relevant to Hong Kong,” says Blumberg. This element of humanity sits at the core of what it means to be a Smart City: to improve the daily lives
“Shun Chong” Tel: 2884 9204
