Why aren't we all living in Smart Homes

Visions of the Future, like the Jetsons cartoons, show homes which are smart and able to control household appliances, to make living easier and more comfortable. Although much research has been carried out into the effectiveness of different visualisation techniques for conveying useful energy consumption information to householders, and in techniques for controlling the timing and coordination of appliance use, these techniques have failed to achieve widespread penetration, and the vision still seems far from a reality. This paper examines the reasons why smart home technologies have so far failed to have any real impact, which is intricately intertwined with the design of visualisations in this context, and why we are not already living in Smart Homes. It examines these questions under four sections: Technology, Consumers, Electricity retailers and Government agencies, using examples from New Zealand’s electricity sector

Heating controls: International evidence base and policy experiences

This report presents a synthesis in the form of narrative summaries of the international evidence base and policy experiences on heating controls in the domestic sector. The research builds on the former Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) commissioned (systematic) scoping review of the UK evidence on heating controls published in 2016 (Lomas et al., 2016), and the Rapid Evidence Assessment of smarter heating controls published in 2014 (Munton et al., 2014). The report consists of two parts. Part 1 involves a (systematic) scoping review of the international evidence base on the energy savings, cost-effectiveness and usability of heating controls in the domestic sector. Part 2 contains the findings from an analysis of the policy experiences of other countries

Residential energy efficiency interventions: A meta-analysis of effectiveness studies

BACKGROUND: The residential sector releases around 17% of global greenhouse gas emissions and making residential buildings more energy efficient can help mitigate climate change. Engineering models are often used to predict the effects of residential energy efficiency interventions (REEI) on energy consumption, but empirical studies find that these models often over-estimate the actual impact of REEI installation. Different empirical studies often estimate different impacts for the same REEI, possibly due to variations in implementation, climate and population. Funding for this systematic review was provided by the evaluation function at the European Investment Bank Group. OBJECTIVES: The review aims to assess the effectiveness of installing REEIs on the following primary outcomes: energy consumption, energy affordability, CO2 emissions and air quality indices and pollution levels. SEARCH METHODS: We searched CAB Abst, Econlit, Greenfile, Repec, Academic Search Complete, WB e-lib, WoS (SCI and SSCI) and other 42 databases in November 2020. In addition, we searched for grey literature on websites, checked the reference lists of included studies and relevant reviews, used Google Scholar to identify studies citing included studies, and contacted the authors of studies for any ongoing and unpublished studies. We retrieved a total of 13,629 studies that we screened at title and abstract level, followed by full-text screening and data extraction. SELECTION CRITERIA: We included randomised control trials, and quasi-experimental studies that evaluated the impact of installing REEIs anywhere in the world and with any comparison. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two independent reviewers screened studies for eligibility, extracted data and assessed risk of bias. When more than one included study examined the same installation of the same type of REEI for a similar outcome, we conducted a meta-analysis. We also performed subgroup analyses. MAIN RESULTS: A total of 16 studies were eligible and included in the review: two studies evaluated the installation of efficient lighting, three studies the installation of attic/loft insulation, two studies the installation of efficient heat pumps, eight studies the installation of a bundle of energy efficiency measures (EEMs), and one study evaluated other EEMs. Two studies, neither appraised as having a low risk of bias, find that lighting interventions lead to a significant reduction in electricity energy consumption (Hedges' g = −0.29; 95% confidence interval [CI]: −0.48, −0.10). All the other interventions involved heating or cooling, and effects were synthesizised by warmer or colder climate and then across climates. Four studies examined the impact of attic/loft insulation on energy consumption, and two of these studies were appraised as having a low risk of bias. Three studies took place in colder climates with gas consumption as an outcome, and one study took place in a warmer climate, with the electricity consumption (air conditioning) as the outcome. The average impact across all climates was small (Hedges' g = 0.04; 95% CI: −0.09, 0.01) and statistically insignificant. However, two of the studies appear to have evaluated the effect of installing small amounts (less than 75 mm) of insulation. The other two studies, one of which was appraised as low risk of bias and the other involving air conditioning, found significant reductions in consumption. Two studies examined the impact of installing electric heat pumps. The average impact across studies was not statistically significant (Hedges' g = −0.11; 95% CI: −0.41, 0.20). However, there was substantial variation between the two studies. Replacing older pumps with more efficient versions significantly reduced electricity consumption in a colder climate (Hedges' g = −0.36; 95% CI, −0.57, −0.14) in a high risk of bias study. However, a low risk of bias study found a significant increase in electricity consumption from installing new heat pumps (Hedges' g = 0.09; 95% CI, 0.06, 0.12). Supplemental analyses in the latter study indicate that households also used the heat pumps for cooling and that the installed heat pumps most likely reduced overall energy consumption across all sources—that is, households used more electricity but less gas, wood and coal. Seven studies examined bundled REEIs where the households chose which EEMs to install (in five studies the installation occurred after an energy audit that recommended which EEMs to install). Overall, the studies estimated that installing an REEI bundle is associated with a significant reduction in energy consumption (Hedges' g = −0.36; 95% CI, −0.52, −0.19). In the two low risk of bias studies, conducted with mostly low-income households, installed bundles reduced energy consumption by a statistically significant amount (Hedges' g = −0.16; 95% CI, −0.13, −0.18). AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: The 16 included studies indicate that installing REEIs can significantly reduce energy consumption. However, the same type of REEI installed in different studies caused different effects, indicating that effects are conditional on implementation and context. Exploring causes of this variation is usually not feasible because existing research often does not clearly report the features of installed interventions. Additional high quality impact evaluations should be commissioned in more diverse contexts (only one study was conducted in either Asia or Africa—both involved lighting interventions—and no studies were conducted in South America or Southern Europe)

Energy utilization in the domestic sectors.

Includes bibliographical references.In South Africa the domestic sector is an important energy user. Information is available on how much energy is supplied to this sector but little is known about how this energy is utilized. The purpose of this thesis is to try and gather information on this area of domestic energy utilization. As the domestic sector is made up of a large number of mall users a selected sample of the users is needed to provide information which is representative of the sector as a whole. A postal survey was used to gather information from a representative sector of the White community. This method was unsuitable for the Black sector but information on Black household energy usage was obtained from a Department of Health report. With the use of a postal survey of a sample group to estimate results for the sector as a whole, inaccurate results will occur unless the sample is truly representative of the sector. To ensure this, independent figures for the income per household and the number of urban and rural households were obtained and the sample results weighted accordingly

Carbon Emission Policies in Key Economies

The Australian Government asked the Productivity Commission to undertake a study on the ‘effective’ carbon prices that result from emissions and energy reduction policies in Australia and other key economies (the UK, USA, Germany, New Zealand, China, India, Japan and South Korea). The Commissions research report, released 9 June 2011, provides a stocktake of the large number of policy measures in the electricity generation and road transport sectors of the countries studied. And it provides estimates of the burdens associated with these policies in each country and the abatement achieved. While the results are based on a robust methodology, data limitations have meant that some estimates could only be indicative. More than 1000 carbon policy measures were identified in the nine countries studied, ranging from (limited) emissions trading schemes to policies that support particular types of abatement technology. While these disparate measures cannot be expressed as an equivalent single price on greenhouse gas emissions, all policies impose costs that someone must pay. The Commission has interpreted ‘effective’ carbon prices broadly to mean the cost of reducing greenhouse gas emissions — the ‘price’ of abatement achieved by particular policies. The estimated cost per unit of abatement achieved varied widely, both across programs within each country and in aggregate across countries. The relative cost effectiveness of price-based approaches is illustrated for Australia by stylised modelling that suggests that the abatement from existing policies for electricity could have been achieved at a fraction of the cost. The estimated price effects of supply-side policies have generally been modest, other than for electricity in Germany and the UK. Such price uplifts are of some relevance to assessing carbon leakage and competitiveness impacts, but are very preliminary and substantially more information would be required.carbon pricing; cost abatement; greenhouse gas emissions; abatement technology; carbon policy; energy reduction policy; emissions trading scheme; carbon leakage

Forecasting hot water consumption in residential houses

An increased number of intermittent renewables poses a threat to the system balance. As a result, new tools and concepts, like advanced demand-side management and smart grid technologies, are required for the demand to meet supply. There is a need for higher consumer awareness and automatic response to a shortage or surplus of electricity. The distributed water heater can be considered as one of the most energy-intensive devices, where its energy demand is shiftable in time without influencing the comfort level. Tailored hot water usage predictions and advanced control techniques could enable these devices to supply ancillary energy balancing services. The paper analyses a set of hot water consumption data from residential dwellings. This work is an important foundation for the development of a demand-side management strategy based on hot water consumption forecasting at the level of individual residential houses. Various forecasting models, such as exponential smoothing, seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average, seasonal decomposition and a combination of them, are fitted to test different prediction techniques. These models outperform the chosen benchmark models (mean, naive and seasonal naive) and show better performance measure values. The results suggest that seasonal decomposition of the time series plays the most significant part in the accuracy of forecasting

Temporal analysis of electricity consumption for prepaid metered low and high income households in Soweto, South Africa

Abstract : This study explores the temporal trend in electricity consumption since the introduction of prepaid meters in low income households of Soweto, and compares the findings with high income households. Monthly electricity consumption data (over 96 months: 2007-2014) on 4427 households in Soweto, for both low and high income households, was collected from Eskom. Using a simple linear model to analyse consumption trends in low income households, we ascertain that electricity consumption has decreased by 48% since the inception of prepaid meters. Nonetheless, it is noted that 60% of household incomes are spent on electricity bills, which is way above the threshold set for energy poverty. Comparatively, high income households consume lower electricity than low income households do. Overall, the prepaid meter programme is producing expected results for Eskom but remains a challenge for low income households, which are still entrenched in energy poverty. We call for an energy policy that is tailored for each income groups and the formulation of laws and policies to protect the energy vulnerable households

Economic impacts of climate change on cities: A survey of the existing literature

This paper attempts a survey of the existing literature on the direct market impacts of climate change on urban centers. In the first chapter, the argument for the importance of cities as case studies for research on the impacts of climate change is established using current population data and future projections. In the second chapter, a brief overview of how we can go from the global level to the regional level, when we consider the impacts of climate change, is given. In the third chapter, we examine the models and their estimates for the sea level rise impacts on cities. In the fourth chapter, we summarize the impacts of increasing temperature. In the last two chapters, we elaborate on the current limitations and we present some conclusions. --