EMPOWERING, a smart Big Data framework for sustainable electricity suppliers

This paper presents the EMPOWERING project, a Big Data environment aimed at helping domestic customers to save electricity by managing their consumption positively. This is achieved by improving the information received about energy bills and offering online tools. The main contributions of EMPOWERING are the creation of a novel workflow in the electricity utility sector regarding the implementation of data analytics for their customers and the fast implementation of data-mining techniques in massive datasets within a Big Data platform to achieve scalability. The results obtained show that EMPOWERING can be of use for customers of electrical suppliers by changing their energy habits to decrease consumption and so increase environmental sustainability

EMPOWERING, a smart Big Data framework for sustainable electricity suppliers

This paper presents the EMPOWERING project, a Big Data environment aimed at helping domestic customers to save electricity by managing their consumption positively. This is achieved by improving the information received about energy bills and offering online tools. The main contributions of EMPOWERING are the creation of a novel workflow in the electricity utility sector regarding the implementation of data analytics for their customers and the fast implementation of data-mining techniques in massive datasets within a Big Data platform to achieve scalability. The results obtained show that EMPOWERING can be of use for customers of electrical suppliers by changing their energy habits to decrease consumption and so increase environmental sustainability. Index Terms—Big-data, Electricity supply industry, Sustainable development, Domestic consumptio

Sustainability in the Age of Platforms. CEPS Special Report. June 2019

Over the past few decades, new digital platforms such as China’s Alibaba, Japan’s Rakuten and the U.S.’s eBay have grown from startups into multinational giants. With a few clicks of the keyboard, these online marketplaces bring together a seller and a buyer from anywhere in the globe. This study examines the transformative impact of online marketplaces on economic, social and environmental sustainability. It finds great opportunities. Platforms promote growth, break down barriers of distance and leap over rigid class structures, bringing marginalized outsiders into the mainstream. The study also identifies dangers stemming from the growth of e-commerce, from the reduction of labor protection to an explosion of shipping waste. What are the responsibilities of platforms? How can they promote sustainability? Policymakers are asking these questions, but struggling to find the correct balance between the opportunities against the dangers. Until now, these questions have received little attention from scholars. This study fills a much-needed void by providing some initial answers and recommendations for improvement

Smart Cities or Smart About Cities?

This paper builds on the one towards CORP 2104 'Plan it Smart' which attempted to define 'smart cities' for the purpose of planning and against other city typologies. It concentrates on how ICT or 'smart technology' is applied in cities and discusses its critiques. It explores who benefits from 'smart' interventions: the ICT industry, governments or the users and whether there are inherent contradictions between top down and bottom up urban interventions. It explores the preconditions of improving living conditions for all by 'smart' technologies, including the role of discourse analysis, and raises issues of equity and social justice. Lastly, the paper discusses Hajer's alternative of 'smart urbanism' expressed in his agenda for planning and design in 'Smart about cities' and concludes that the growth ideology still prevails despite promising excursions into decoupling it from urban resources

Meeting the challenge of zero carbon homes : a multi-disciplinary review of the literature and assessment of key barriers and enablers

Within the built environment sector, there is an increasing pressure on professionals to consider the impact of development upon the environment. These pressures are rooted in sustainability, and particularly climate change. But what is meant by sustainability? It is a term whose meaning is often discussed, the most common definition taken from the Bruntland report as “sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987). In the built environment, the sustainability issues within the environment, social and economic spheres are often expressed through design considerations of energy, water and waste. Given the Stern Report’s economic and political case for action with respect to climate change (Stern, 2006) and the IPCC’s Fourth Assessment Report’s confirmation of the urgency of the climate change issue and it’s root causes (IPCC, 2007), the need for action to mitigate the effects of climate change is currently high on the political agenda. Excess in carbon dioxide concentrations over the natural level have been attributed to anthropogenic sources, most particularly the burning of carbon-based fossil fuels. Over 40% of Europe’s energy and 40% of Europe’s carbon dioxide emissions arise from use of energy in buildings. Energy use in buildings is primarily for space heating, water heating, lighting and appliance use. Professionals in the built environment can therefore play a significant role in meeting targets for mitigating the effects of climate change. The UK Government recently published the Code for Sustainable Homes (DCLG, 2006). Within this is the objective of development of zero carbon domestic new build dwellings by 2016. It is the domestic zero carbon homes agenda which is the focus of this report. The report is the culmination of a research project, funded by Northumbria University, and conducted from February 2008 to July 2008, involving researchers from the Sustainable Cities Research Institute (within the School of the Built Environment) and academics, also from within the School. The aim of the project was to examine, in a systematic and holistic way, the critical issues, drivers and barriers to building and adapting houses to meet zero carbon targets. The project involved a wide range of subject specialisms within the built environment and took a multi-disciplinary approach. Practitioner contribution was enabled through a workshop. The focus of this work was to review the academic literature on the built environment sector and its capabilities to meet zero carbon housing targets. It was not possible to undertake a detailed review of energy efficiency or micro-generation technologies, the focus of the research was instead in four focussed areas: policy, behaviour, supply chain and technology.What follows is the key findings of the review work undertaken. Chapter One presents the findings of the policy and regulation review. In Chapter Two the review of behavioural aspects of energy use in buildings is presented. Chapter Three presents the findings of the review of supply chain issues. Chapter Four presents the findings of the technology review, which focuses on phase change materials. A summary of the key barriers and enablers, and areas for future research work, concludes this report in Chapter Five. Research is always a work in progress, and therefore comments on this document are most welcome, as are offers of collaboration towards solutions. The School of the Built Environment at Northumbria University strives to embed its research in practical applications and solutions to the need for a low carbon economy

State, community and the negotiated construction of energy markets: Community energy policy in England

This article provides fresh insight on the political construction of markets through empirical analysis of community energy in the UK. It considers the diverse actors, understandings, processes and technologies enrolled in market creation, stabilisation and correction, while emphasising how negotiation, mediation and translation are pervasive throughout. Our starting point is an exploration of the role of the state in managing processes of socially embedding and disembedding markets, and how tensions between ideological commitments to deregulation and the social necessity of intervention are addressed by governing at a distance, in this example through the conveniently malleable notion of ‘community’. We draw attention in particular to the variegated manifestations of these processes and the plurality of actors and logics operating within the ‘black box’ of the state, as well as within and between markets and civil society. We reveal how negotiation between competing logics – the impulse to marketise and its diverse others – can be observed across different forms of organisation and action. We argue that such deliberations can be seen as fractal patterns throughout contemporary socioeconomic arrangements, emphasising how the Polanyian concept of the ‘double movement’ can be deepened through analysis of the heterogeneous associations and logics at work in ‘actually existing’ instituted action, understanding political processes as ontologically performative. Empirical material is drawn from across four research projects, each focusing on different aspects of the UK government's Community Energy Strategy, exploring the varying ways marketisation plays out through different governmental programmes

Scenarios for the development of smart grids in the UK: synthesis report

‘Smart grid’ is a catch-all term for the smart options that could transform the ways society produces, delivers and consumes energy, and potentially the way we conceive of these services. Delivering energy more intelligently will be fundamental to decarbonising the UK electricity system at least possible cost, while maintaining security and reliability of supply. Smarter energy delivery is expected to allow the integration of more low carbon technologies and to be much more cost effective than traditional methods, as well as contributing to economic growth by opening up new business and innovation opportunities. Innovating new options for energy system management could lead to cost savings of up to £10bn, even if low carbon technologies do not emerge. This saving will be much higher if UK renewable energy targets are achieved. Building on extensive expert feedback and input, this report describes four smart grid scenarios which consider how the UK’s electricity system might develop to 2050. The scenarios outline how political decisions, as well as those made in regulation, finance, technology, consumer and social behaviour, market design or response, might affect the decisions of other actors and limit or allow the availability of future options. The project aims to explore the degree of uncertainty around the current direction of the electricity system and the complex interactions of a whole host of factors that may lead to any one of a wide range of outcomes. Our addition to this discussion will help decision makers to understand the implications of possible actions and better plan for the future, whilst recognising that it may take any one of a number of forms

Sustainable Development Report: Blockchain, the Web3 & the SDGs

This is an output paper of the applied research that was conducted between July 2018 - October 2019 funded by the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) and conducted by the Research Institute for Cryptoeconomics at the Vienna University of Economics and Business and RCE Vienna (Regional Centre of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development).Series: Working Paper Series / Institute for Cryptoeconomics / Interdisciplinary Researc

Data on the move: How household energy data travel and empower

Even though Science and Technology Studies has highlighted how things and publics participate in energy assemblages, the specific role of big data has received relatively little attention. This paper examines the politics of energy data in relation to residential grid management. Informed by the concept ‘data journey’, developed by Bates et al. (2016), it proposes an ‘energy data journey’ approach and focusses on two questions: how are big data of smart homes produced and how do they travel? And who is empowered by this energy data production and movement? The paper addresses these questions in the empirical context of a Dutch-Belgian pilot project that has designed and tested energy management of a smart home. The empirical analysis shows how energy data and household profiles are created and travel through different cyber-physical locations to serve different purposes. The use of specific ‘home energy profiles’ is crucial and contributes to neoliberal energy management as it focusses on self-monitoring tools and users’ responsibility, while empowering commercial tech-companies and high income groups. The final section reflects on the cyber-materiality of energy data and the techno-politics of energy data more broadly. The paper argues that an energy data journey approach is productive for STS researchers when critically reflecting on the agency and politics of energy data