Attributes of Big Data Analytics for Data-Driven Decision Making in Cyber-Physical Power Systems

Big data analytics is a virtually new term in power system terminology. This concept delves into the way a massive volume of data is acquired, processed, analyzed to extract insight from available data. In particular, big data analytics alludes to applications of artificial intelligence, machine learning techniques, data mining techniques, time-series forecasting methods. Decision-makers in power systems have been long plagued by incapability and weakness of classical methods in dealing with large-scale real practical cases due to the existence of thousands or millions of variables, being time-consuming, the requirement of a high computation burden, divergence of results, unjustifiable errors, and poor accuracy of the model. Big data analytics is an ongoing topic, which pinpoints how to extract insights from these large data sets. The extant article has enumerated the applications of big data analytics in future power systems through several layers from grid-scale to local-scale. Big data analytics has many applications in the areas of smart grid implementation, electricity markets, execution of collaborative operation schemes, enhancement of microgrid operation autonomy, management of electric vehicle operations in smart grids, active distribution network control, district hub system management, multi-agent energy systems, electricity theft detection, stability and security assessment by PMUs, and better exploitation of renewable energy sources. The employment of big data analytics entails some prerequisites, such as the proliferation of IoT-enabled devices, easily-accessible cloud space, blockchain, etc. This paper has comprehensively conducted an extensive review of the applications of big data analytics along with the prevailing challenges and solutions

Implications of Consumer Lifestyle Changes and Behavioral Heterogeneity on U.S. Energy Consumption and Policy

Understanding the relationship between consumer lifestyle and energy use is essential to solving many of the energy and sustainability challenges. By studying shifts in consumer lifestyle over time and behavior heterogeneity, this dissertation provides valuable insights into understanding energy consumption trends and improving energy efficiency programs. Technologies continue to change our daily lifestyles, influencing energy demand. In the first part of the dissertation, changes in how people spend their time (time-use) patterns are used as an indicator of lifestyle shifts. Using decomposition analysis changes in energy use due to these lifestyle shifts are measured. The results show that for an average American, time spent in residences increased at the rate of 3.1 minutes per day per year while time spent for travel and other non-residential activities decreased (-0.4 min/day/year and -2.7 min/day/year respectively). The time-use shifts induced a net energy change of -1,722 trillion BTU, 1.8% of national primary energy consumption in 2012. The lifestyle/energy shifts are interpreted as primarily driven by information and communication technology: people are spending more time at home with online entertainment and services. Information provided to consumers and energy efficiency rebate programs generally assume characteristics of an average consumer. There is, however, substantial heterogeneity in behavior, energy prices and impacts of electricity use. To understand the impact of heterogeneity on rebate programs, in the second part, the economic and carbon benefits of efficient choices of three household technologies (television, clothes washer and dryer) are assessed for different locations and usage patterns. For some households, an efficient energy washers and dryers do not save money, but brings substantial economic benefits to others. Viewing utility appliance rebate programs as tools for carbon abatement, abatement cost of carbon was assessed. At current rebate levels, for an average household, the abatement cost for carbon exceeds social cost of carbon (SCC). However, subpopulations with abatement cost less than SCC exists: 4%, 6%, and 41% for televisions, washers and dryers respectively. Therefore, abatement programs can benefit from targeted intervention. For targeted intervention, it would be useful to identify groups with high energy use and characterize their demographics. To achieve this, in the third analysis, time-use survey data is used to characterize patterns of TV watching. Using cluster analysis, the population was divided into three groups, the high-energy use cluster has 14% of the population and spends an average of 7.7 hours per day on TV. This relatively small group, due to high use, accounts for 34% of total television energy consumption. This group tends to be older, not in the work force and/or poorly educated. A high-use household purchasing an efficient television saves more than three times the energy of an average household. The main policy implications of these results are that more targeted information and policies have potential to enhance adoption by household who will benefit the most economically as well as reduce more carbon. In the management of utility efficiency programs, the results make a case for variable rebates or tiered communication programs

EUSN 2021 Book of Abstracts, Fifth European Conference on Social Networks

Book of abstract of the fifth European conference on Social Networks EUSN 202

Sustainable Smart Cities and Smart Villages Research

ca. 200 words; this text will present the book in all promotional forms (e.g. flyers). Please describe the book in straightforward and consumer-friendly terms. [There is ever more research on smart cities and new interdisciplinary approaches proposed on the study of smart cities. At the same time, problems pertinent to communities inhabiting rural areas are being addressed, as part of discussions in contigious fields of research, be it environmental studies, sociology, or agriculture. Even if rural areas and countryside communities have previously been a subject of concern for robust policy frameworks, such as the European Union’s Cohesion Policy and Common Agricultural Policy Arguably, the concept of ‘the village’ has been largely absent in the debate. As a result, when advances in sophisticated information and communication technology (ICT) led to the emergence of a rich body of research on smart cities, the application and usability of ICT in the context of a village has remained underdiscussed in the literature. Against this backdrop, this volume delivers on four objectives. It delineates the conceptual boundaries of the concept of ‘smart village’. It highlights in which ways ‘smart village’ is distinct from ‘smart city’. It examines in which ways smart cities research can enrich smart villages research. It sheds light on the smart village research agenda as it unfolds in European and global contexts.

Land Use Change from Non-urban to Urban Areas

This reprint is related to land-use change and non-urban and urban relationships at all spatiotemporal scales and also focuses on land-use planning and regulatory strategies for a sustainable future. Spatiotemporal dynamics, socioeconomic implication, water supply problems and deforestation land degradation (e.g., increase of imperviousness surfaces) produced by urban expansion and their resource requirements are of particular interest. The Guest Editors expect that this reprint will contribute to sustainable development in non-urban and urban areas

GIS in Healthcare

The landscape of healthcare is dynamic, gradually becoming more complicated with factors beyond simple supply and demand. Similar to the diversity of social, political and economic contexts, the practical utilization of healthcare resources also varies around the world. However, the spatial components of these contexts, along with aspects of supply and demand, can reveal a common theme among these factors. This book presents advancements in GIS applications that reveal the complexity of and solutions for a dynamic healthcare landscape

Understanding energy efficiency in households and hotels in Spain: a combination of methods to account for stakeholders, views.

143 p.The growing complexities of the current energy price crisis and environmental problems are leading to an acceleration in reductions in energy consumption. Stimulating the adoption of energy efficiency is one of the strategies formulated by the international community to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Buildings in the EU are responsible for 40% of our energy consumption and 36% of greenhouse gas emissions. Improving energy efficiency in buildings therefore plays a key role in attaining the ambitious goal of carbon-neutrality by 2050. Huge investments in energy efficiency are required to achieve energy savings and climate goals. However, despite its significant monetary benefits and environmental advantages, levels of EE in buildings are generally low. This is the so-called energy efficiency gap. Many reasons exist for it, which can be mainly grouped into market, behavioural and other failures. And different energy efficiency policy instruments can be used to address those failures. If energy efficiency leads to significant reductions in energy consumption (and bills), why do residential and non-residential buildings invest so little in it? How should policy makers encourage investments in energy efficiency? What effective ways are there of making energy efficiency policies effective and accepted by all stakeholders? By answering these overarching research questions, the dissertation¿s main goal is to study the effects of energy efficiency policies and to understand how these policy instruments can be designed to promote effective, cheaper reductions in emissions and energy consumption in households and hotels, mainly in the context of Spain. To that end, this dissertation integrates and combines different methodologies, i.e. semi-quantitative approaches through the use of focus groups and surveys to understand behavioural complexity; and a quantitative econometric approach based on hedonic price method to provide evidence of the effectiveness of EE labels. We find that the application of policy packages may be useful for less coercive policy instruments (especially for households) and for ambitious EE targets. Specifically, ambitious technical standards and specific regulation would ensure that energy is saved. Environmental education and information policies seem to be useful in helping consumers to make better decisions. Additionally, in the light of variation in policy acceptability for economic instruments, energy tax could be combined with subsidies or other revenue recycling schemes. Findings suggest that various policy instruments can be used to help achieve EE targets, but good policy design and excellent implementation are needed, considering behavioural complexity on the part of key stakeholders and features of the policy instrumentsbc3: basque center for climate chang

Smart Urban Water Networks

This book presents the paper form of the Special Issue (SI) on Smart Urban Water Networks. The number and topics of the papers in the SI confirm the growing interest of operators and researchers for the new paradigm of smart networks, as part of the more general smart city. The SI showed that digital information and communication technology (ICT), with the implementation of smart meters and other digital devices, can significantly improve the modelling and the management of urban water networks, contributing to a radical transformation of the traditional paradigm of water utilities. The paper collection in this SI includes different crucial topics such as the reliability, resilience, and performance of water networks, innovative demand management, and the novel challenge of real-time control and operation, along with their implications for cyber-security. The SI collected fourteen papers that provide a wide perspective of solutions, trends, and challenges in the contest of smart urban water networks. Some solutions have already been implemented in pilot sites (i.e., for water network partitioning, cyber-security, and water demand disaggregation and forecasting), while further investigations are required for other methods, e.g., the data-driven approaches for real time control. In all cases, a new deal between academia, industry, and governments must be embraced to start the new era of smart urban water systems