"Houston: We have solved the problem” – Bill Gates on energy management

Bill Gates: “The road ahead” (1996)

More than 25 years ago, Bill Gates presented his ideas on energy savings in the book “The road ahead”, alongside a number of other predictions for the future. A substantial fraction of these predictions have become reality since then, and as the world is increasingly focusing on containing global warming, his thoughts on smart homes and energy saving are very relevant arguments for how to ensure a efficient transition into the new low-carbon future.

Bill Gates was sharing his thoughts on domestic energy management as a key element in future smart homes in a conversation with the Youtube star Marques Brownlee, in his series on retro tech. Seventeen minutes into the video, he moves on to specifically discuss future energy management systems in the homes with Bill Gates.

Smart homes as part of the solution for combatting climate change

In his book, and later on in the interview, Bill Gates emphasizes the importance for smart homes to make the user understand how much electricity is used as well as when and where it is consumed. He correctly addressed the fact that most of the consumption in private homes is connected to hot water and heating and/ or cooling of our homes. In the interview he than states: “That still hasn´t happened” with regard to the existence of a solution to provide this functionality.

In addition to inform the customer, Bill Gates had on his wish-list functionality for educating the customer, with various “what if” scenarios; “what would the impact be if I reduced the temperature with 2 degrees”. Further, he wanted to enable the consumer to set targets, so they can participate in reaching both private goals benefiting the energy expenditures, as well as reaching overall goals for the community.

Smart cities – smart nations

In his conversation with Marques Brownlee, Bill Gates also addresses what is needed if these reductions are to take place, not only in individual homes, but on a larger scale, like a city or even nationwide. Here, Bill Gates advocates heat pumps as a substitute for gas heating, and also envisions functionality enabling customers to take down the consumption automatically when they go to work, take a vacation or visit the parents over the weekends.

The solution is already here!

Watching this interview with Bill Gates, it is intriguing to realize that solution he is requesting is already here!! EMS provides for all of the requested properties of the future energy savings system:

• EMS informs the customer about where, when and how much the consumption is.

• Enables automatic control of the consumption, based on the consumers preference

• Lets the customer choose when to use energy, depending on electricity prices and power consumption

• Gives the consumer functionality to automatically reduce the consumption when going away, either for work or vacation.

• Gamification – tells how much electricity and CO2-emissions each individual in a household is saving, and facilitating a spirit of “who can save the environment the most”

In short: Bill Gates, EMS already has what you are requesting!!

“Houston, we have solved the problem!”