A Comprehensive Review of Smart Energy Meters: An Innovative Approach

Energy meter is an important device used for measuring the power. It is used in customers� homes, industries etc. for measuring the electrical power. A lot of modifications and development has taken place in the construction and operation of the energy meters over a decade. In view of above this paper presents a review of the development of the energy meters and their applications. Energy meters and its different types along with the innovation in this field is been discussed in this paper

Impacts of small-scale electricity systems: A study of rural communities in India and Nepal

This study assesses and compares the benefits of electricity service to households and small enterprises from microgrids, solar home systems (SHS), and the national grid in select rural communities in India and Nepal. Electricity access, in general, leads to reduced kerosene use, more time spent by women on income-generation, and the acquisition of home appliances. However, different types of systems have distinct differences in electricity service conditions. These conditions partly explain why households with SHS exhibit the greatest reduction in kerosene use; why grid-connected households own more appliances; and why electricity access benefits small businesses, but seldom drives key business decisions. The developmental impacts of rural electricity access may benefit from supply standards, greater policy support for investments in productive uses, and further research into the cost-effectiveness of electrification from different supply systems

Building energy metering and environmental monitoring - A state-of-the-art review and directions for future research

Buildings are responsible for 40% of global energy use and contribute towards 30% of the total CO2 emissions. The drive to reduce energy consumption and associated greenhouse gas emissions from buildings has acted as a catalyst in the increasing installation of meters and sensors for monitoring energy use and indoor environmental conditions in buildings. This paper reviews the state-of-the-art in building energy metering and environmental monitoring, including their social, economic, environmental and legislative drivers. The integration of meters and sensors with existing building energy management systems (BEMS) is critically appraised, especially with regard to communication technologies and protocols such as ModBus, M-Bus, Ethernet, Cellular, ZigBee, WiFi and BACnet. Findings suggest that energy metering is covered in existing policies and regulations in only a handful of countries. Most of the legislations and policies on energy metering in Europe are in response to the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), 2002/91/EC. However, recent developments in policy are pointing towards more stringent metering requirements in future, moving away from voluntary to mandatory compliance. With regards to metering equipment, significant developments have been made in the recent past on miniaturisation, accuracy, robustness, data storage, ability to connect using multiple communication protocols, and the integration with BEMS and the Cloud – resulting in a range of available solutions, selection of which can be challenging. Developments in communication technologies, in particular in low-power wireless such as ZigBee and Bluetooth LE (BLE), are enabling cost-effective machine to machine (M2M) and internet of things (IoT) implementation of sensor networks. Privacy and data protection, however, remain a concern for data aggregators and end-users. The standardization of network protocols and device functionalities remains an active area of research and development, especially due to the prevalence of many protocols in the BEMS industry. Available solutions often lack interoperability between hardware and software systems, resulting in vendor lock-in. The paper provides a comprehensive understanding of available technologies for energy metering and environmental monitoring; their drivers, advantages and limitations; factors affecting their selection and future directions of research and development – for use a reference, as well as for generating further interest in this expanding research area

An investigation into the energy and control implications of adaptive comfort in a modern office building

PhD ThesisAn investigation into the potentials of adaptive comfort in an office building is carried out using fine grained primary data and computer modelling. A comprehensive literature review and background study into energy and comfort aspects of building management provides the backdrop against which a target building is subjected to energy and comfort audit, virtual simulation and impact assessment of adaptive comfort standard (BS EN 15251: 2007). Building fabric design is also brought into focus by examining 2006 and 2010 Approved Document part L potentials against Passive House design. This is to reflect the general direction of regulatory development which tends toward zero carbon design by the end of this decade. In finishing a study of modern controls in buildings is carried out to assess the strongest contenders that next generation heating, ventilation and air-conditioning technologies will come to rely on in future buildings. An actual target building constitutes the vehicle for the work described above. A virtual model of this building was calibrated against an extensive set of actual data using version control method. The results were improved to surpass ASHRAE Guide 14. A set of different scenarios were constructed to account for improved fabric design as well as historical weather files and future weather predictions. These scenarios enabled a comparative study to investigate the effect of BS EN 15251:2007 when compared to conventional space controls. The main finding is that modern commercial buildings built to the latest UK statutory regulations can achieve considerable carbon savings through adaptive comfort standard. However these savings are only modestly improved if fabric design is enhanced to passive house levels. Adaptive comfort can also be readily deployed using current web-enabled control applications. However an actual field study is necessary to provide invaluable insight into occupants’ acceptance of this standard since winter-time space temperature results derived from BS EN 15251:2007 constitute a notable departure from CIBSE environmental guidelines

Sustainable transitions and complex socio-technical systems: renewable energy and the electricity grid in the USA, UK and Germany

Transitions management identifies broad national efforts that attempt to govern socio-technical change along more environmentally sustainable pathways. Although the complexity of such endeavours is generally acknowledged, it is not yet clear how governance practices work at an international level. This paper utilises the transitions management concept to compare three countries in their attempts to increase the adoption and use of renewable energy technologies. It notes that analysis at a micro-level needs to focus on the actions and requirements of particular user groups for a deeper elucidation of transition management processes. Furthermore, the complexity of socio-technical change processes implies that transitions management is a more useful concept when focused at the micro-level of change rather than at the macro-level of strategy formulation over the longer term

Secure development of country and competitiveness issues: Case of Germany's energy security

Security and competitiveness are two very important aspects of the economic and political development of every country. In the 21st century, one of the key drivers of most economies in countries throughout the world is energy. Different countries adopt different measures so as to ensure their security and competitiveness through the effective energy policies that make traditional and renewable resources adequately available hence eliminating the possibilities of shortages. Our paper takes up the case study of Germany as one of the wealthiest and most developed economies in the European Union which also occupies the first positions in the charts of energy uptake and consumption. German policy-makers realize its vulnerability when it comes to energy security and attempt to diversify its energy competitiveness using the renewable sources of energy (for instance via the adoption of the Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetz or the "Renewable Energy Act" (EEG)). We analyze the issues of energy security and competitiveness of a country using an example of Germany. Moreover, we describe what challenges the renewable energy sources (RES) might bring into the conventional game and how this might influence the competitiveness and security