If you have ever heard the adage, “Physician: heal thyself,” until this week, it applied to the London-based BT (News - Alert) Group. The global telecommunications services company, which is playing a key role in Britain’s much-vaunted smart meter rollout, has just announced that it will save £13 million (US$20.7 million) annually and shave 5 percent off its carbon footprint by deploying 22,000 smart meters and 1,500 building management systems across its own property portfolio.

As part of the British Gas-led initiative to install smart meters in 28 million homes and small businesses over the next decade, BT is participating in a consortium, called SmartReach, along with Winchester, England-based Arqiva, and Guildford, England-based BAE Systems Detica. Each of the companies within SmartReach has its own bailiwick: The smart meters currently being installed by electricity, gas, and water providers will be linked to a new, secure wireless network running across Arqiva's (News - Alert) radio spectrum, which currently is used to transmit TV and radio signals. Detica will provide security measures, while BT will serve as the project manager.

The long-term goal is to create a national smart grid that closely monitors electricity demand, enabling British householders to run power-devouring devices such as washing machines at off-peak times. “A communications network designed to meet the different needs of all of Britain's utilities – electricity, gas and water – must be able to deliver universal connectivity and long-term resilience,” said John Cronin, managing director for Arqiva Wireless Access.

“Smart meters will use telecommunications to deliver important environmental benefits and so BT is determined to be at the heart of the project,” Olivia Garfield, BT Group (News - Alert) strategy director told “The Guardian” newspaper.

To realize those benefits at its own worksites, BT is already in the process of rolling out smart meters at more than 110 buildings a month in the UK. Its global rollout to 170 locations worldwide will start in 2012.

BT’s energy management program will use a unique combination of smart meters, machine to machine (M2M) communications, forecasting, and reporting functions, overlaid by a software tool for driving accurate billing and driving out waste energy consumption. The advanced control network will operate over broadband— to monitor and control energy consumption and ensure that systems like heating, ventilation, and air conditioning are optimally configured and functioning efficiently.

The meters will wirelessly monitor energy consumption and environmental conditions across BT’s key buildings and telephone exchange sites, providing real-time reporting data to an integrated energy management system. The integrated energy management system – which will cover more than 90 percent of BT’s UK energy consumption – also will enable the company to identify anomalies in energy usage across its buildings and spot issues, such as ineffective use of cooling and heating. Ultimately, the system will enable BT to identify further opportunities to reduce its energy consumption and reduce carbon footprint and energy costs. Indeed, the program is viewed as a vital step in reducing BT's huge energy footprint, which saw the company consume 2,342 gigawatt-hours of energy in from 2010 through 2011 across its U.K. networks, data centers and offices -- equivalent to 0.7 per cent of all the electricity used nationwide. BT anticipates that the program will reduce the company’s carbon footprint by 60,000 tons per year; this reduction in carbon is equivalent to the annual emissions from electricity supplied to 23,000 houses. Richard Tarboton, director of Energy and Carbon, BT, said: “Having real-time energy usage information for thousands of buildings at our fingertips will really help us drive down BT’s carbon footprint and energy bills. “BT has set comprehensive and ambitious targets across a wide spectrum of sustainability indicators including carbon and energy.  Since 1997, it has achieved a 59% cut in net CO2 emissions.  By 2020, BT aims to reduce its net CO2 emission intensity by 80 percent, compared to 1997 levels.  

In related news, BT is the Official Communications Service Provider for the London 2012 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games— and will be designing, installing, and managing all fixed and mobile communications across 94 locations, including 32 games locations. BT will carry every call, piece of data, image, and sports report for the games, and host every visit to the london2012.com website.