Smarter thinking on energy use  A new meter developed at Oxford
University could help households analyse and reduce the amount
of energy they waste     • The Guardian,     • Jump to comments
()  The first step to saving energy is changing behaviour in the
home, and Oxford University engineers think they have the
answer. Malcolm McCulloch and Jim Donaldson of the university's
engineering department have designed a "smart" electricity meter
that can automatically tell which appliances are on and how much
energy they are consuming. They hope that, by itemising a home's
power use and making wasted energy visible, people could act to
reduce their energy bills and carbon footprint.  According to a
survey by the Energy Saving Trust (EST), eight out of 10 people
in England do not know what they are paying for their gas and
electricity. The trust also calculates that, if everyone in
England switched to smart meters, which allow householders to
see how much energy they are using, they would save £985m a year
between th