When downloaded to an iPhone, the new application enables users to monitor the carbon intensity of the grid – the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere when one unit of electricity is used by a consumer.
The university is currently researching the use of computerised agents to operate smart electricity meters in support of the government’s initiative to have smart meters in all homes by 2020, and are using a new building on the Southampton campus as a test bed.
Prof Nick Jennings, school of electronics and computer science at University of Southampton, said: “We are developing agents that can ‘learn’ how much energy a building or home uses and which can then make predictions and decisions about cost-effective energy use.
“We have already proved that agents can be used to haggle and resolve conflict, trade on the stock market and cope with disasters; our next challenge is to incorporate them into smart electricity meters.”
