Estimating human interactions with electrical appliances for activity-based energy savings recommendations: poster abstract

Since the power consumption of different electrical appliances in a household can be recorded by individual smart meters, it becomes possible to start considering in more details the interactions of the residents with those devices throughout the day. Appliances usages should not be considered as independent events, but rather as enablers for activities. In this work, we propose an automated method for determining when an electrical device is triggered solely from its power trace. Knowing when an appliance is powered on is required for identifying recurrent patterns that could later be understood as activities. Leveraging activity knowledge over time will allow us to design personalized energy efficient measures. We envision the design of future ambient intelligence systems, where the smart home can optimize the energy consumption in regards to the lifestyles of its residents

NILM techniques for intelligent home energy management and ambient assisted living: a review

The ongoing deployment of smart meters and different commercial devices has made electricity disaggregation feasible in buildings and households, based on a single measure of the current and, sometimes, of the voltage. Energy disaggregation is intended to separate the total power consumption into specific appliance loads, which can be achieved by applying Non-Intrusive Load Monitoring (NILM) techniques with a minimum invasion of privacy. NILM techniques are becoming more and more widespread in recent years, as a consequence of the interest companies and consumers have in efficient energy consumption and management. This work presents a detailed review of NILM methods, focusing particularly on recent proposals and their applications, particularly in the areas of Home Energy Management Systems (HEMS) and Ambient Assisted Living (AAL), where the ability to determine the on/off status of certain devices can provide key information for making further decisions. As well as complementing previous reviews on the NILM field and providing a discussion of the applications of NILM in HEMS and AAL, this paper provides guidelines for future research in these topics.Agência financiadora: Programa Operacional Portugal 2020 and Programa Operacional Regional do Algarve 01/SAICT/2018/39578 Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia through IDMEC, under LAETA: SFRH/BSAB/142998/2018 SFRH/BSAB/142997/2018 UID/EMS/50022/2019 Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La-Mancha, Spain: SBPLY/17/180501/000392 Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (SOC-PLC project): TEC2015-64835-C3-2-R MINECO/FEDERinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A Review of Approaches for Sensing, Understanding, and Improving Occupancy-Related Energy-Use Behaviors in Commercial Buildings

Buildings currently account for 30–40 percent of total global energy consumption. In particular, commercial buildings are responsible for about 12 percent of global energy use and 21 percent of the United States’ energy use, and the energy demand of this sector continues to grow faster than other sectors. This increasing rate therefore raises a critical concern about improving the energy performance of commercial buildings. Recently, researchers have investigated ways in which understanding and improving occupants’ energy-consuming behaviors could function as a cost-effective approach to decreasing commercial buildings’ energy demands. The objective of this paper is to present a detailed, up-to-date review of various algorithms, models, and techniques employed in the pursuit of understanding and improving occupants’ energy-use behaviors in commercial buildings. Previous related studies are introduced and three main approaches are identified: (1) monitoring occupant-specific energy consumption; (2) Simulating occupant energy consumption behavior; and (3) improving occupant energy consumption behavior. The first approach employs intrusive and non-intrusive load-monitoring techniques to estimate the energy use of individual occupants. The second approach models diverse characteristics related to occupants’ energy-consuming behaviors in order to assess and predict such characteristics’ impacts on the energy performance of commercial buildings; this approach mostly utilizes agent-based modeling techniques to simulate actions and interactions between occupants and their built environment. The third approach employs occupancy-focused interventions to change occupants’ energy-use characteristics. Based on the detailed review of each approach, critical issues and current gaps in knowledge in the existing literature are discussed, and directions for future research opportunities in this field are provided

Avaliação dos efeitos de padrões mais restritivos na regulamentação de eficiência energética no uso residencial de ar condicionado em Guayaquil, Equador

Orientadores: Arnaldo Cesar da Silva Walter, Guillermo Enrique Soriano IdrovoDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia MecânicaResumo: No mundo, o uso de energia para resfriamento de espaço tem o mais rápido crescimento nas edificações; em 2016, esse consumo foi de 2020 TWh, o que representou 18.5% do consumo total de eletricidade nesse setor e 12% de suas emissões totais de CO2. No Equador, o mais recente estudo nacional sobre usos finais de energia foi publicado em 1993 pelo ex-INECEL. Este estudo mostrou que a parcela de ar condicionado foi de 14.3% da demanda total de eletricidade e contribuiu com 12% da demanda pico na região litoral. Este trabalho estima a demanda de energia de equipamentos de ar condicionado (AC) no setor residencial de Guayaquil - Equador e quantifica os benefícios potenciais de aumentar o atual padrão mínimo de eficiência energética (PMEE) considerando dois cenários de crescimento econômico, com 2020 como ano base e um horizonte até 2030. O impacto de aumentar o padrão na difusão dos aparelhos também é quantificado, principalmente em residências de renda média, que apresentaram o maior potencial de crescimento no uso do ar-condicionado. A estimativa mostra que a demanda por AC representou 15.4% da demanda total de eletricidade no setor residencial (108 GWh) em 2000 e em termos absolutos, quase triplicou em 2019 (285 GWh), representando aproximadamente 19.5% da demanda total residencial. Com o atual padrão de eficiência energética (EER = 3.2 W/W), a demanda de eletricidade associada pode chegar a 489 GWh em 2030, representando 21.5% da demanda e 0,07 Mt CO2eq em emissões relacionadas ao uso de energia elétrica. Dados os preços da eletricidade, nível de renda das famílias e o aumento nos custos dos equipamentos associados aos diferentes PMEE analisados (oito no total), o PMEE melhor avaliado foi 4.3 W/W. A avaliação leva em consideração a perspectiva do consumidor em termos de economia nos custos de ciclo de vida e a perspectiva da sociedade em termos de valor presente líquido. Com o novo padrão, seria possível reduzir o consumo acumulado de eletricidade nos aparelhos de AC e as emissões de CO2 relacionadas à energia em até 11% entre 2020 e 2030. Porém desde o ponto de vista do consumidor, os benefícios serão pequenos em comparação ao aumento no custo do equipamento e, portanto, as famílias não estarão incentivadas a trocar os equipamentos por unidades mais eficientes, a menos que haja políticas adicionais para cobrir o custo adicionalAbstract: Worldwide, the energy use for space cooling has the fastest growth in buildings; in 2016, this consumption was 2020 TWh, which represented 18.5% of the total electricity consumption in this sector, and 12% of their total CO2 emissions. In Ecuador, the latest national end-use energy study was published in 1993 by the ex-INECEL. This study showed that the share of air conditioning was 14.3% of total electricity demand and contributed with 12% of the peak demand in the coast region. This work estimates the energy demand of air conditioning equipment (AC) in the residential sector of Guayaquil - Ecuador, and quantifies the potential benefits of increasing the current minimum energy performance standard (MEPS) considering two economic growth scenarios, with 2020 as the base year and a horizon until 2030. It also quantifies the impact of this increase in the diffusion of the appliance, especially in middle-income households, which presented the greatest growth potential in the use of air conditioning. The estimation shows that AC demand represented 15.4% of total residential electricity demand in 2000 (108 GWh) and in absolute terms, it almost tripled in 2019 (285 GWh) representing approximately 19.5% of total residential electricity demand. With the current energy efficiency standard (EER = 3.2 W/W), the associated electricity demand could reach up to 489 GWh in 2030, representing 21.5% of the total residential electricity demand and 0.07 Mt CO2eq in energy-related emissions. Given the electricity prices, the level of household income, and the increase in equipment costs associated with the different MEPS analyzed (eight in total), the best-rated MEPS was 4.3 W/W. The assessment take into account the perspective from a single household in terms of the life cycle cost savings and the society perspective in terms of the net present value. With the new standard, it would possible to reduce the aggregate AC electricity consumption and energy-related CO2 emissions up to 11% between 2020 and 2030. However, from the consumers¿ point of view the benefits will be small compared to the increase in the equipment cost and therefore would not be encouraged to change their equipment for more efficient units, unless there are additional policies to cover the additional upfront costMestradoPlanejamento de Sistemas EnergeticosMestre em Planejamento de Sistemas Energético

Analyses of building energy system alternatives through transient simulation

This thesis examines the performance of residential buildings and the energy systems contained within those buildings by simulating them in the TRaNsient SYstems Simulation (TRNSYS) program. After matching a building's floorplan to that of house local to the College Park area, national and local building surveys were consulted to produce a prototype of the average Maryland home. This home was simulated with ordinary insulation levels, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment, and appliances. Various construction characteristics, including wall insulation, thermostat set points, HVAC equipment, and appliance efficiency were varied to examine the effects of each individual change upon the final annual energy consumption of the building, and in doing so, the value of retrofitting each characteristic was explored. Finally, the most effective energy-saving strategies were combined to model a low-energy home, in order to explore the possibility of refitting an existing home to become a net-zero site energy building. Sensitivity study results were listed, and a net-zero-energy building was successfully simulated