For those who want to keep a tab on the electricity consumption for their home or business, the Smart Meters are a great option. Unlike the traditional meters, the smart meter helps you in tracking your energy consumption on hourly, daily, weekly or month basis. The data offered by smart meter will help you make better energy choices, and will give you full control over your energy bills. Moreover, smart meters can also transmit and receive data, which helps in remote reporting. The smart meter technology is being utilized popularly in different nations. These energy counting devices are available in market with various features.
The good
Smart meters are being regarded with great favour in homes and business globally. This popularity is due to the reason that the energy saving is more convenient by making use of smart meters as they monitor the energy that is consumed by the users. The smart meters can also interact with electrical devices like TVs and washing machines. These devices can also broadcast the present price of the energy consumed by the electrical appliances. This technology would enhance energy conservation and also minimise the energy costs. The most prompting advantage of installing a smart meter is that the consumers will not be issued any erroneous electrical bills. The smart meters will help in cutting the energy consumption and therefore indirectly national carbon emissions. The product can be therefore categorized as eco-friendly.
The bad
While smart meters have various advantages, they also come with certain drawbacks and challenges to the consumers. The smart meter is very costly and this is the most prominent lowdown due to which, they are not favoured much, by everyone. These cunning little gizmos make use of a communicating thermostat to interact with electrical devices at home. The smart meters are installed with an in-home display where the details about the current energy usage are shown. The GPRS technology used by the device keep your electricity supplier au fait of the energy that you have consumed and also allows you to check your gas and electricity consumption on the internet. With all such costly components and software, the smart meter by all odds will be expensive. Moreover, the knowhow of the technology and software installed with the smart meter is necessary for the customer.
The ugly
The most horrible disadvantage of smart meters is the microwave radio frequency radiation emitted by the installation of these devices, which cause various health hazards. These devices when set up at homes or other commercial buildings will radiate microwaves that are dangerous for health of humans and animals as well. Therefore consumers, especially electro-sensitive persons have given an account of various health problems. The microwave radio frequency is used in the communication process between smart meters and electronic devices. Tumors and cancer risks, DNA damage, cognitive difficulties and heart problems are some of the series health problems that are caused due to these radiations. So overall, the smart meters are not worthy at all. You can afford to buy a smart meter but not at the cost of your health.
Why are we so critical?
Everything has its pros and cons, and so is with smart meters. Many companies are manufacturing the smart meters with various attractive features. The technology used by smart meters keep a record of your daily energy consumption and thus can help you to cut off the extra energy that was consumed by you. Of course, establishing the smart meters in your households or any other commercial place would certainly not be cheap. Moreover, after installing the device, you need to be cautious while maneuvering the device. As most of the electrical appliance will be connected with the smart meter using a certain technique or some particular software, you need to handle it with extra care. Regarding the health problems called by radiations, many companies are taking precautions to fabricate a product that is safe for the users. But, you cannot be sure about the long term impacts of the smart meters.
The bottomline
Because smart meters tend to save energy, therefore the product is definitely an eco product. With various modifications, the disadvantages of the product can be removed, thereby making the product safe and secure to be used. Though the initial cost of the smart meter is high, we should not forget the reductions given to us in the future energy bills.
