The ongoing development of the internet of things will continue to impact cyber security in 2014, as attackers now have more potential entry routes to sensitive governmental, corporate and personal data than ever. Mundane objects – such as thermostats and fridges – which were once completely unremarkable from a security perspective, have suddenly become the guardians of sensitive data, ranging from sensitive financial information to detailed telemetry about personal aspects of our lives.

I think he's right on the money. More and more domestic objects are being connected to the Internet - often without the users or manufacturers thinking about security.

Recently, LG came under fire for spying on users of its Smart TVs. As well as sending sensitive personal information without permission, it is entirely likely that the TV contains software flaws which could make it an attractive target for attackers. TVs are now powerful computers with sophisticated Operating System - and yet they rarely receive security updates.

Talking to Marc, I joked that my new solar panels were connected to the net - who knows what a malicious user could do with those!

Well, today I received the instruction manual for my panels' Internet connected monitoring unit.

Brilliant! So, anyone who can get on to my WiFi network will be able to monitor my panels.

Now, that in itself isn't a huge security risk. All the attacker will be able to see is how sunny it is and how well my panels have been performing.

But, suppose there is a security flaw in the software which monitors the panels that - let's say - forces a change in the voltage, or changes the frequency or amperage. Could a sufficiently determined hacker cause damage to my property?

Could the firmware of the unit be hijacked to launch attacks - either on my network or externally? Or be recommissioned into a spam sender or bitcoin miner?

For the moment, the manufacturer is providing software updates - but what happens if they go bust and leave open a critical security hole?

In part, this is mitigated by having a strong firewall and WiFi password - if attackers can't get in to your network, it's a lot harder for them to exploit vulnerabilities. Of course, if someone plugs an Ethernet cable directly into my homeplugs, I'm screwed!

Companies should have a duty to ensure that the Internet of Things is as secure as possible.

I've blogged before about our Solar Panels and how they're performing. Liz and I have recently moved house, and decided that it made sense to get panels on our new property. Basically, we're so capitalist that we can only enjoy the warm glow of Earth's yellow sun when it is enriching our bank accounts.

We looked at several local installers, before settling on Sims Solar. Paul was able to produce a detailed set of measurements, understood my crazy data-logging requirements, and gave us an excellent price. As a bonus, he went to the same university as me and Liz - UEA!

It took a day to stick up the scaffolding, then a day to physically install the panels and monkey around with the wiring and fuse boxes. Then a couple of hours yesterday to set up the Internet connection to the inverter.

Here's the result:

Yup - that's our ancient electricity meter running backwards! As all that lovely sky juice gets slurped up by the silicon wafers, the photons are crushed and gently fermented into electrons, which are then organically fed back into the mains. Good people of Oxford - charge your phones on me!

This is how we have set everything up...

Solar Panels - made by SunPower - eight of them on the roof.

4kW Inverter - Made by Fronius.

DataCard - allows the whole system to be connected via Ethernet or WiFi (2.4GHz only though) Fronius Datamanager - as well as a nice web front end, there is an API. Made sure it was running the latest Fronius firmware.

And this is what it all looks like when wired up in our utility closet. The solar power AC has its own isolator, meter, and RCD before being split into the house consumer unit and mains electricity meter. The more observant of you will have noticed the Solar iBoost nestling in that tangle of wire. The iBoost has a sensor which monitors the flow of electricity from the panels. If there is surplus electricity flowing back into the grid (i.e. the house is using less than is being generated) it sends a radio signal out at 868.3 MHz to its companion device near the hot water tank.

The iBoost switches on the electric immersion heater until the desired water temperature has been reached or the electricity load drops. So, during a typical day, the panels may be generating 1400 Watts. But if the fridge, phone chargers, and computers are drawing less than that - the remainder is used to heat up the water. Rather neatly saving on gas costs as well.

Monitoring and the Internet of Things

As I mentioned, the inverter has Ethernet and WiFi connections. This allows the user to monitor the system via a web interface, hook it up to remote monitoring, and to programmatically get access to the device's API.

The local web interface is basic and functional - but it links up to Solar.web which allows realtime and archive access to your data. There are also Solar.web apps for iOS, Android, and BlackBerry.

The documentation for the V1 API is sparse and slightly cumbersome (you can't copy & paste from the PDF). But it does work very well - spitting out JSON for just about every conceivable function.

A single API call can get realtime information about what the panels are currently generating - and how much they've generated in total.

/solar_api/v1/GetInverterRealtimeData.cgi?Scope=Device&DeviceID=1&DataCollection=CommonInverterData

Gives

{
   "Head" : {
      "RequestArguments" : {
         "DataCollection" : "CommonInverterData",
         "DeviceClass" : "Inverter",
         "DeviceId" : "1",
         "Scope" : "Device"
      },
      "Status" : {
         "Code" : 0,
         "Reason" : "",
         "UserMessage" : ""
      },
      "Timestamp" : "2013-12-18T09:12:06+00:00"
   },
   "Body" : {
      "Data" : {
         "DAY_ENERGY" : {
            "Value" : 664,
            "Unit" : "Wh"
         },
         "FAC" : {
            "Value" : 50.03,
            "Unit" : "Hz"
         },
         "IAC" : {
            "Value" : 1.1,
            "Unit" : "A"
         },
         "IDC" : {
            "Value" : 0.83,
            "Unit" : "A"
         },
         "PAC" : {
            "Value" : 274,
            "Unit" : "W"
         },
         "TOTAL_ENERGY" : {
            "Value" : 4000,
            "Unit" : "Wh"
         },
         "UAC" : {
            "Value" : 247,
            "Unit" : "V"
         },
         "UDC" : {
            "Value" : 326,
            "Unit" : "V"
         },
         "YEAR_ENERGY" : {
            "Value" : 4000,
            "Unit" : "Wh"
         },
         "DeviceStatus" : {
            "StatusCode" : 7,
            "MgmtTimerRemainingTime" : -1,
            "ErrorCode" : 0,
            "LEDColor" : 2,
            "LEDState" : 0,
            "StateToReset" : false
         }
      }
   }
}

So, plenty to play about with. It should be fairly easy to set up something useful to do with the data.

Cost And Payback

The total system cost just shy of £8,000. That's a hefty chunk of money - but I feel it's a wise investment.

The panels - and their associated bits and bobs - are guaranteed for 10-25 years. Although the panels will degrade over their lifetime, it's not by a hugely significant amount.

According to the solar power calculators, the panels should generate an average of 3478kWh per year.

The Government's Feed In Tariff scheme will pay 14.9p per kWh generated and 4.64p per kWh exported back to the grid. They assume a uniform 50% export, meaning a total payment of 17.22p per kWh. That price rises with inflation and is guaranteed for 25 years.

Assuming my maths is correct, we'll be paid around £600 per year for generating solar power. At that rate, it will take 13 years to pay back the cost of the system.

Of course, that doesn't take into account the total savings from generating our own power. Based on our other panels, I'd expect them to generate about 2/3rds of the electricity we use. Now, the sun only shines in the day - and most days I'm out at work. But I still leave my fridge, servers, and security cameras on. I can set the washing machine and tumble dryer to come on around noon to take advantage of the solar output. On the days I work from home, my MacBook and microwave pizza will be sunshine powered.

Let's say that it will knock our electricity bills down by a third.

I'm with Ovo (switch and we both get £20) - at the moment, their electricity price is 12.15p/kWh. So, I reckon that we'll be saving at least £120/year.

Finally, there's the gas savings to consider. Again, with Ovo we pay 4.13p/kWh for gas. I've no idea how much the Solar iBoost will save as it heats up the water tank. Since having the system installed 5 hours ago, it has saved me 1.34kWh. Assuming that's the same every day - a total of £20 per year. Not a huge amount, but enough for a celebratory gin and tonic every now and again.

That takes the repay time for the panels to about 11 years (£8000 / £10+£120+£600).

All of this assumes that the price for gas and electricity doesn't rise beyond the rate of inflation. If you've been following the UK energy markets, you'll know that most of the providers raised their prices by 10% (not Ovo though!)

I suppose there's two ways of looking at it.

• Best case scenario - there's an energy shortage and the repay period goes down.
• Worst case scenario - cold fusion becomes a reality and electricity becomes too cheap to charge for. In which case, I'm stuck with an interesting historical anomaly on the roof. Oh well!

Onwards!

Expect lots of solar data geekery from this blog :-)

At the moment, my household appliance are fairly dumb. I'd like to see if there's a way I can hook them up to an API which takes into account the current power being generated and the weather forecast to find the optimal time to switch on.

It would also be interesting to see if there's a way to get data out of the Solar iBoost. At the moment, the physical display screen will let me see how much power it has used per day / month / year - but it would be fun to get some more info out of it.

I'm going to start monitoring in earnest from the winter solstice - that's the 21st of December this year. I should be able to chart a steady rise in the amount of free money falling from the sky!

Massive thanks to Sims Solar for such a fast and professional install. If you want panels in the Oxford area, Paul is your man.

We based our power generation estimates on the Europa Solar Calculator which estimated that they would generate around 2,700 kWh per year.

Every few months we take a reading and see how the panels have been performing.

Our meter reading for the end of May was 4,271kWh - our reading at the end of August was 5,791. That means this summer we generated 1.5MWh!

Let's put that into context. The average UK domestic household uses around 4.6MWh per year. Naturally, there's a lot of regional variation in usage, and usage is dependent on how many people live at the property etc.

Last year, our solar panels 3172 kWh in total. That's around 2/3rds of the average yearly usage.

Ovo Energy provide me we a handy comparison of our energy usage.

Of course, domestic energy use is spread throughout the day - while a tumble drier and fridge may be running while people are at work, during the evening games consoles, cookers, TV, and lights are all in use.

Around half the total was generated in the Summer. That's slightly unfortunate. Electricity usage tends to be higher during winter. Not just because heaters are used - but because longer nights mean more lightbulbs burning and more evenings in front of the TV rather than at a barbecue.

There is a whole load of data about electricity demand in the UK on Gridwatch.

It clearly shows that electrical demand drops in the late evening, and demand spikes in winter.

There are around 23 million occupied UK households in England and Wales. Assuming on average they generated half of what we're getting - call it 1,500kWh - the total generated per year would be 34TWh.

That's set against the UK's annual consumption of 344TWh. So, roughly 10% of our total needs could be met if every house had solar panels. That doesn't include businesses having them installed, or sheds, barns, and fields.

It costs roughly £7,000 to install solar panels on a normal domestic property. That's roughly £160 Billion - considerably less than the Government's proposed £250 Billion subsidy for Nuclear Power (which doesn't include clean up costs).

Solar and other renewable aren't intended to provide all our energy needs - not until we can perfect energy storage - but they're great for reducing the load on our grid, distributing energy production, reducing our dependencies on foreign fuel sources, and protecting us from environmental disasters.

We could create hundreds of thousands of jobs throughout the country, reinvigorate British manufacturing, and reduce our electricity bills - all for less than the cost of a giant industry subsidy.

The technology is there, we just need a Government which is planning for the long term rather than for the next election.

We used both the Energy Saving Trust Solar Power calculator and the Europa Solar Calculator to estimate a generation capacity of between 2,500 and 2,700 kWh per year.

We've just done a reading for 21 November to 21 February. Right in line with expectations, we generated 205kWh - netting us ~£96 from the Feed In Tariff.

Over 15 months we've generated a total of 3376kWh. Again, totally in line with the top end of expectations. Which gives me happy feelings whenever I see the sun shine.

So why aren't more people doing this? The prices of solar panels have fallen so much that a regular 4kWh installation costs around £7,000. Granted, that's a chunk of money - but it's nothing compared to the price of a house. Why isn't every new-build house kitted out with one?

The point of solar power (in the UK at least) is not to go "off grid" or be completely energy independent. The point is to reduce the load on the existing grid and to give us more time to construct extra, greener energy generating capacity.

Our personal electricity usage is about 13kWh per day. Call it 5,000kWh per year. At the moment, we generate roughly half of that through solar power. Sure, a large part of our usage happens at night when the sun isn't shining - but it's easily enough to drop the load required for powering the fridge, washing machine, broadband and wifi, and all the other devices left on during the day.

Better local storage of energy would be nice, but given we can export it to people who are using electricity - it's not vital.

Just imagine if we could cut the cost of our electricity bills in half - permanently!

As Professor Sue Roaf pointed out in a comment on The Guardian, the UK is proposing a £240 Billion subsidy for new nuclear plants. That's £10,000 for each household - enough to pay for solar panels, insulation, smart meters, and more efficient heating equipment.

Surely that's the sensible way to go? Give every household a £10k subsidy which they can spend on reducing energy usage and generating their own power. This is cheap and reliable technology which - crucially - has no chance of melting down and causing a nuclear winter. Getting installers working would boost employment all over the country, would lift thousands of families out of fuel poverty, and provide the country with energy security for the future.

That can never happen; it's far too sensible.

Yesterday, I saw the sun was shining, I rubbed my hands together and let out an Mr Burns-esque chuckle of delight. Last November, we installed solar panels on our roof. The Government ensures that if you generate electricity, you get paid for it. There's also a payment for surplus energy you sell back to the grid. Of course, electricity bills are also reduced.

After 6 months of waiting for E.on to pull their finger out, we finally received our first payment.

£520.90

Five hundred quid! Tax free! That's for the 6 months between November and May - traditionally not the sunniest part of the year!

We used both the Energy Saving Trust Solar Power calculator and the Europa Solar Calculator to estimate a generation capacity of between 2,500 and 2,700 kWh per year.

In the last 6 months, we've generate around 1,120 kW of electricity - almost exactly on target!

Of course, there's a moral component to this. Every kWh of energy generated from the sun means one less kWh generated by burning coal or oil. There's no nuclear waste to clear up after my solar panels reach the end of their life. The people living in the house have more money to spend or save.

I keep having to remind myself that this is an investment. In approximately 10 years the cost of the panels will be repaid. The FIT is guaranteed for 25 years (rising with inflation). So I have a decade to wait before I'm truly extracting cash from cucumbers, but it's a promising start!

Because of Greg Barker MP's idiotic decision to scrap the Feed In Tariff with only six weeks' notice - we've had to get this done in rather a rush.

Thanks to Angi and Philip at Sunny Future Solar, we were able to get our system installed before the deadline. Yesterday, we received confirmation that panels were installed and working and had generated their first 15W of electricity!

Total cost of installation: £12,000. Ouch!

How Making Money From Solar Works

Once solar panels are installed, there are three main income streams.

1. Reduced electricity bills - when the sun is shining, your toaster and computer are powered by Earth's yellow sun.
2. Any electricity you generate but don't use is sold back to the grid* at 3p / kW.
3. For every kW the panels generate, you are paid 43.3p.

*Rather than actually measuring this, it's assumed that you only use half the electricity generated.

All the prices are index linked (so they should rise with inflation) and guaranteed for 25 years. Any money generated is tax-free.

The Economic Reality

There are two main sites which will tell you how much energy you are likely to generate over the year. The calculations are based on where the property is, which direction it faces, inclination of the roof, etc. The Energy Saving Trust Solar Power calculator estimated around 2,500 kWh per year The Europa Solar Calculator estimated around 2,700 kWh per year.

Even at the lower estimate, that's ~£1,100 per year from generating the electricity - and a further ~£40 from selling electricity back.

We're in a slightly unusual situation in that we've installed the panels on our rental property. So our tenants will be getting the benefit of reduced electricity bills.

At the moment, that's only around one hundred pounds per year. But if there's another energy crisis, the amount saved would be higher.

So as greedy landlords, could we charge a premium for a property with cheap electricity bills? Say.... ooooh... £50 per month? Well, probably not that much - and we try not to be evil bastard landlords. Especially as we've been on the receiving end of scummy landlords in the past.

The idea is that the property is more attractive and so isn't left vacant for so long between tenants.

Even if we were making a full £1,200 (tax free) from these solar panels, is that an unreasonable subsidy as the government claim? Let's do the maths.

Total earnings (excluding money saved on bills) = £1,140. The solar panels are meant to degrade by a maximum of 1% each year. Assuming they do so, that's a total of £25,000 after 25 years.

So, 25k on an investment of 12k. That's pretty good, right?

No. Not really. That's about a 3% rate of interest. Even if we were really lucky with the weather and the panels didn't degrade, we'd be looking at a return of 30k - which works out as a 4% interest rate.

Hardly the deal of the century! To give you a comparison, the government predicts a 7% interest rate if you stick your money in a pension.

Now, it is guaranteed - assuming the government doesn't renege on its promises and we don't enter a period of nuclear winter - and it is tax free, but is it really a generous subsidy which needs trimming?

And, even if it is; how can giving just 6 weeks' notice be remotely fair?

A Better Way of Subsidising Solar

Barker has announced huge cuts to the solar subsidy. Whereas before the cut, the FIT would have paid off the capital cost of the panels in 10 year, after the cut, it will be more like 20 years. And that's assuming you haven't taken a loan out to pay for the panels.

Personally, I don't understand why the government doesn't just pay for the damned things themselves. It seems bureaucratically perverse to agree to pay a subsidy, via energy providers, to people who have paid installers, who have purchased the panels.

Surely just simpler to buy the panels and give them to anyone willing to pay for installation. That way there would be vastly less paperwork, no worrying about how to keep track of who needs to be paid what, etc.

Even if you ignore the environmental impact, energy security is one of this countries most pressing problems. We cannot depend on volatile foreign sources of energy.

Surely finding a sane and simple way to subsidise should be one of this government's priorities?