Big Data for Urban Energy Reductions

This chapter first discusses the smart grid, which will be a necessity if electricity production in the future is to be sustainable. The chapter then looks at energy in an urban context, emphasising domestic energy consumption and the role of big data in its reduction. It is found that experience to date shows that data provision alone, for example that made possible by smart meters, can not on its own effect the large cuts needed in household energy use. However, in future, householders could well be both consumers and producers of energy (for example, from rooftop PV cell arrays). Householders will inevitably become far more aware than they are now of the price of electricity and how this varies over time.