Would you use "green energy" plug sockets?

[Output]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-61030903

I can't be the only one who sees this as a pointless gimmick that won't really help most people (and given the extra power draw used by the system itself, it probably still just ends up using more than would have been in use without it).

Particularly notable is the fact that there aren't any switches, which I think makes it particularly dumb (so their claim of the socket looking completely normal on the outside in that video obviously doesn't work - which as they are apparently from a UK start-up, is something that should have been obvious. Admittedly the start-up's FAQ states it looks "similar" to a normal plug socket, but to me it still seems dumb without switches.).

I'm sceptical about the whole green energy detection claim anyway, as I'd imagine it still doesn't actually tell you that the electricity you are using was actually green, but more like stating that green energy happens to be generated somewhere in the grid - there's obviously no saying you would actually receive any of that particularly generated energy.

Another question would also be how their security is, as a lot of IoT devices obviously get that wrong.

According to https://measurable.energy/faqs they connect over WiFi and use hardware encryption, but the fact that they connect to cloud-based software seems to be an obvious point of failure.

I'd imagine that cloud-based part also means that a subscription may be involved. Even if it's not though and it's instead a single purchase (likely still at a premium), there's still no saying that the company will even still exist for the whole time the plugs are meant to be guaranteed software updates for, and as such could end up needing to be replaced again by normal ones.

Regardless, there is obviously still no such thing as 100% secure, and even if it did still exist and stay updated that whole time, I'd imagine that at the end of that time newer replacements would be expected to be purchased to be continually protected due to the probable then EOL status.

In theory it might be seen as more useful to businesses than individuals, but I personally still see it as an unnecessary security risk and an overall gimmick that will fail to get widespread use.

[Jonj1611]

Seems pointless. So you plug whatever device in and it tells you that your not using renewable energy.

And then what? Take the device out and not use it? Wait until renewable is back in use?

[AGTDenton]

Let's just hope it is a backlogged April fools joke.

Surely instead of replacing all your sockets you would just have 1 device at the source of your electric to tell you over Bluetooth/WiFi to your phone or smart meter?
The whole thing seems completely wasteful. Imagine the Unions, I won't do any work until the sockets are green then I will turn on my computer

[Saracen999]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-61030903

I can't be the only one who sees this as a pointless gimmick ...

You sure aren't. There's at least three of us (I showed the wife and she just rolled her eyes at this idea), and my bet is there's a LOT more where we three came from.

Firstly, agreed on the lack of switches.

Second, I put in power meters (both in-socket and inductive sensor on mains in -types) years before 'leccy companies got on the smart meter bandwagon. So I already have a pretty good idea of which devices use how much power, and when.

And third, I don't put any Iot devices in unless there is a VERY clear benefit to the wife and/or myself, and very cautiously even if there is.

Fourth, and finally, my view on subscription services isn't a secret in this locale. Heaven knows I've droned on about it often enough (yeah, sorry about that) over the years. It will only happen if there's either literally no choice, or again, a very distinct benefit that I really, really want.

Don't get me wrong, green energy = good .... at least in principle.

However, as soon as I seen the term 'green' applied to products, my marketing bullpoop sensor goes off. Far too often, it's either e very dubious claim in terms of the actual green benefit, or just corporate green-washing.

What, for instance, is the 'green' cost of taking out perfectly good standard sockets in order to substitute 'green' ones? And what happens to the old ones? Landfill?

That's not to say there's never a benefit in replacing old stuff with new. Some years ago, I replaced an old (about 30 years old, 10 years ago) freezer with a new one. Despite being about 30% bigger (in storage capacity) it used about 10% of the power. Yup, 10%, seriously. Average consumption, compressor running, was about 22w not 230w. I later found a leak in the door seal on the old freezer, so it was probably running continuously.

Anyway, back on point, maybe those sockets are a thought if installing new-build or new circuits, but even then, I'd need convincing that there's an actual point beyond green hype, and my next question would be "how much do they cost?", and anything that's cloud-based is a near automatic "no way" for me.

All told, it's a hard "pass" from me, I think.

[Output]

Seems pointless. So you plug whatever device in and it tells you that your not using renewable energy.

And then what? Take the device out and not use it? Wait until renewable is back in use?

That's exactly what the suggestion seems to be.

Which obviously doesn't take into account the possibility that the times renewable is supposedly in use may not match the time that a person is there to plug it in.

Let's just hope it is a backlogged April fools joke.

If only.

Surely instead of replacing all your sockets you would just have 1 device at the source of your electric to tell you over Bluetooth/WiFi to your phone or smart meter?
The whole thing seems completely wasteful. Imagine the Unions, I won't do any work until the sockets are green then I will turn on my computer

Yes, it does seem to be more of an idea to save energy that doesn't take into account that other ways already exist, and that the additional energy used by these, however miniscule they believe it may be, aren't worth the trade-off.

It just seems like another company jumping on to try to get a piece of the green energy pie.

You sure varen't. There's at least three of us (I showed the wife and she just rolled her eyesat this idea), and my bet is there's a LOT more where we three came from.

Firstly, agreed on the lack of switches.

Second, I put in power meters (both in-socket and inductive sensor on mains in -types) years before 'leccy companies got on the smart meter bandwagon. So I already have a pretty good idea of which devices use how much power, and when.

And third, I don't put any Iot devices in unless there is a VERY clear benefit to the wife and/or myself, and very cautiously even if there is.

Fourth, and finally, my view on subscription services isn't a secret in this locale. Heaven knows I've droned on about it often enough (yeah, sorry about that) over the years. It will only happen if there's either literally no choice, or again, a very distinct benefot that I really, really want.

Don't get me worng, green energy = good .... at least in principle.

However, as soon as I seen the term 'green' applied to products, my marketing bullpoop sensor goes off. Far too often, it's either e very dubious claim in terms ofthe actual green benefit, or just corporate green-washing.

What, for instance, is the 'green' cost of taking out perfectly good standard sockets in order to substitute 'green' ones? And what happens to the old ones? Landfill?

That's not to say there's never a benefot in replacing old stuff with new. Some ears ago, I replaced an old (about 30 years old, 10 years ago) freezer with a new one. Despite being about 30% bigger (in storage capacity) it used about 10% of the power. Yup, 10%, seriously. Average consumption, compressor running, was about 22w not 230w. I later found a leak in the door seal on the old freezer, so it was probably running continuously.

Anyway, back on point, maybe those sockets are a thought if installing new-build or new circuits, but even then, I'd need convincing that there's an actual point beyond green hype, and my next question would be "how much do they cost?", and anything that's cloud-based is a near automatic "no way" for me.

All told, it's a hard "pass" from me, I think.

Absolutely. There are times that newer things are very beneficial over the old, but plug sockets certainly doesn't seem to be one of those where any improvement on its current form is needed.

Perhaps there will be something that would be a beneficial improvement on it in future, but this supposed renewable energy detecting plug socket certainly doesn't seem to be one of them.

As I said further up in this post, it just seems like another company jumping on to try to get a piece of the green energy pie.

As an interesting aside, there's an "IoT Security Assured" image at the bottom of the startup's website (https://measurable.energy/), which when clicked on says that the supposed certificate that it's linked to is expired (by 3 months). You would think they'd want that to be kept up-to-date.

It probably doesn't help that the site hosting the certificate seems to indicate on its pricing page that it's blockchain-related and that a certificate can cost £1 (even if it seems to suggest that it's a different party that pays to issue them rather the recipient).

Obviously it's possible that there are other types of certificates hosted on there, and for all I know they are all legitimate, but with my distrust about most cryptocurrency-related things, it just adds to the scepticism I have about this plug socket.

[Iota]

It can also save you money by spotting energy that's being wasted.

Like having a green LED, or not having off switches then? Okay. Well thought out product. /s

[DanceswithUnix]

Blimey, you lot got out the wrong side of your beds yesterday.

Ok, firstly I agree it's a hard pass from me because of cloud security concerns. Anyone with access to this data can see how many people are living in the house, when they go to bed and wake up, when they go on holiday etc.

Still, this looks to be a smart socket, and they talk about it automatically turning things off that aren't going to get used. So that's your switch: use the app. That's what youngsters expect; either an app or "alexa, turn off the tv", not some rocker thing on the front.

That smart switching seems to be where the savings are expected to come from. Now in an energy aware household I'm not sure that would work. If I replaced all the sockets in my house, that must be 50 sockets so at 0.3W each about 15W total being used by those sockets. Yesterday I went to watch telly and found that someone hadn't turned the AV amplifier off in the living room, so that might have been on for a couple of days. Looks like this system would have worked out that no-one was actually using it, and switched it off. Perhaps it would switch it back on in the morning when it saw the alarm clock fire up, the kettle go on etc, in which case it would come up in standby mode. Are there enough opportunities in our house to offset a constant 15W power drawer from the sockets? Honestly, I'm not sure.

The LED is more interesting. That's about guiding people's behaviour so they use off peak electricity where possible. Looks like if you have solar panels it can tie into those to say if you currently have an excess of power or not. Bit rubbish for red/green colourblind people mind.

There was an interesting system outlined in the IEEE magazine which just targeted heavy impact systems like water heaters and car charging. The idea was that if the device wanted power, but didn't *need* power then it would ask the grid if it was OK to switch on for 5 minutes. The grid could advise no, smoothing out demand. But because it is fine grained in something like 5 minute chunks, it would sometimes say yes so even at peak times your water would heat, just slower than normal. If your water hit a low temperature threshold or you told it you need hot water now, then the control system would just heat it anyway as the whole thing was request based. Seemed like a good balance of kind to the grid, but without actually losing your autonomy.

Edit: Best keep your old dumb sockets if you switch to something like this, in case they go under and leave you stranded like this: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022...s-smart-homes/