Digital Birmingham is a Birmingham City Council initiative and part of a city wide strategic partnership of more than 40 public, private and voluntary organisations
The Digital Environment Home Energy Management System (DEHEMS) is a project led by Manchester City Council under the European Commission's 7th Framework Programme for Research and Technology Development. 
It began in June 2008 and will run for 30 months. It will develop models for next generation smart metering services for households. The first of a series of pilots began in September 2008 in Chorlton in Manchester with services being delivered to 5 households. This has now increased to 60 households in Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol and then 150 households in early 2009.
DEHEMS will help households cut energy bills 
through a revolutionary new online energy 'dashboard'. This will provide a range of energy use information via TV, PC and mobile.
This will include:
- Real-time projections for the total extra/saving for the next bill, compared to the last bill.
- Real-time energy usage for the household, compared to the neighbourhood average, measured in cost, CO2 and Kwh.
- The pattern of energy usage over the day for the household, compared to the neighbourhood average, measured in cost, CO2 and Kwh.
This dashboard will be accessible through internet enabled TV as well as PC and mobile phone.
Next stages of the project:
Survey Results
As part of the project's development, DEHEMS recently conducted a major survey into public awareness on energy usage by household appliances. The survey tested households' awareness of the energy need to operate different appliances at full capacity. The results showed some surprising results. Follow this link to find out more.
DEHEMS cycle 2 Research results:
The main motivations for people using the DEHEMS system is towards energy saving which presents a shift away from just cost being the main motivation for participants. This is also highlighted by people stating in both the focus group and questionnaire: saving energy became 'engrained as a long term habit' as a result of the DEHEMS project.
Energy usage data is highlighted on the page which shows:
Behavioural Change as also been identified with various lifestyle changes such as switching of lights when they are not in use, and by not leaving appliances on standby when not in use or required. As part of Cycle 2 of DEHEMS appliance level monitoring was introduced using plugwise over a zigbee network.
This plugwise kit enabled participants of the DEHEMS research project to identify 'which appliances were using more energy'.
In addition, the FAQ's and the dashboard enabled people to see how they could save more money by replacing appliances, by playing games in households with children to make energy saving more fun.
Please click hereto view the October 2010 DEHEMS newsletter.
Digital Birmingham work together with Family Housing Association and the Summerfield Eco Village on this project.
If you would like more information, please email digital@birmingham.gov.uk.
The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2007-2013 under grant agreement number 224609.
