Consumer and Community in the Future Electricity Network: an Insight from Smart Grid Projects in Europe

Integration of growing shares of renewable energy sources into the electricity networks have resulted in the need for electricity network upgrade through pervasive deployment of information and communication technologies. Having power sources close to the consumer premises and exploiting the potential of smart metering infrastructure may lead to consumers’ empowerment and energy savings. Therefore, the consumer should be approached with clear engagement strategies in the early stages of the technological system development. The analysis of European smart grid projects points to an increasing interest in consumers and communities as focal players for the success of the future electricity system. This necessitates characterization of the consumer as well as the community from what concerns values, beliefs and goals that are culturally and geographically located. In this context, this contribution presents and discusses some EU smart grid projects with a focus on consumers and on their interactions within the community. The abstract also demonstrates successful consumers’ engagement strategies in large-scale deployment of smart metering systems at national level, highlighting the need to address social needs and concerns at an early stage of the technological system development

The emerging energy web

There is a general need of elaborating energy-effective solutions for managing our increasingly dense interconnected world. The problem should be tackled in multiple dimensions -technology, society, economics, law, regulations, and politics- at different temporal and spatial scales. Holistic approaches will enable technological solutions to be supported by socio-economic motivations, adequate incentive regulation to foster investment in green infrastructures coherently integrated with adequate energy provisioning schemes. In this article, an attempt is made to describe such multidisciplinary challenges with a coherent set of solutions to be identified to significantly impact the way our interconnected energy world is designed and operated. Graphical abstrac

Consumer engagement: An insight from smart grid projects in Europe

This paper provides an insight into consumer engagement in smart grid projects in Europe. Projects analysed are those included in the catalogue annexed in the JRC Report “Smart Grid projects in Europe: lessons learned and current developments”. The analysis suggests an increase in the interest in consumer engagement projects at European level and a strong focus on the residential sector, and emphasises the key importance of public funding to support these projects. The study also reveals that projects involving consumers are characterised by the pursuit of two main objectives: gaining deeper knowledge of consumer behaviour (observing and understanding the consumer) and motivating and empowering consumers to become active energy customers (engaging the consumer). The paper reviews the main activities undertaken to obtain these objectives and highlights trends and developments in the field. Finally, the paper discusses obstacles to consumer engagement and the strategies adopted by the projects surveyed to tackle them, highlighting the need to build consumer trust and to design targeted campaigns taking into consideration different consumer segments. The conclusions are in line with findings and analyses presented in the literature and underscore the need for further research and action at European level

An agent-based model of electricity consumer: Smart metering policy implications in Europe

EU Regulation 2009/72/EC concerning common rules for internal market in electricity calls upon 80% of EU electricity consumers to be equipped with smart metering systems by 2020, provided that a positive economic assessment of all long-term costs and benefits to the market and the individual consumer is guaranteed. Understanding the impact that smart metering systems may have on the electricity stakeholders (consumers, distribution system operators, energy suppliers and the society at large) is important for faster and effective deployment of such systems and of the innovative services they offer. For this purpose, in this paper an agent-based model is developed, where the electricity consumer behaviour due to different smart metering policies is simulated. Consumers are modelled as household agents having dynamic preferences on types of electricity contracts offered by the supplier. Development of preferences depends on personal values, memory and attitudes, as well as the degree of interaction in a social network structure. We are interested in exploring possible diffusion rates of smart metering enabled services under different policy interventions and the impact of this technological diffusion on individual and societal performance indicators. In four simulation experiments and three intervention policies we observe the diffusion of energy services and individual and societal performance indicators (electricity savings, CO2 emissions savings, social welfare, consumers’ comfort change), as well as consumers’ satisfaction. From these results and based on expert validation, we conclude that providing the consumer with more options does not necessarily lead to higher consumer’s satisfaction, or better societal performance. A good policy should be centred on effective ways to tackle consumers concerns.Energy & Industr

The emerging energy web

There is a general need of elaborating energy-effective solutions for managing our increasingly dense interconnected world. The problem should be tackled in multiple dimensions -technology, society, economics, law, regulations, and politics- at different temporal and spatial scales. Holistic approaches will enable technological solutions to be supported by socio-economic motivations, adequate incentive regulation to foster investment in green infrastructures coherently integrated with adequate energy provisioning schemes. In this article, an attempt is made to describe such multidisciplinary challenges with a coherent set of solutions to be identified to significantly impact the way our interconnected energy world is designed and operate

Penetration of Leading Safety Indicators in the Construction Industry: The Case of Tennessee

Leading safety indicators assess construction behaviors and processes prior to the occurrence of safety breaches. These have emerged as a more effective alternative to traditional safety measurements in the construction industry. While exiting research has extensively defined these indicators and their correlation to safety performance, there is still insufficient understanding of their penetration on local and regional levels. This research aims to explore, define, evaluate, and provide guidance in relation to utilizing leading safety indicators in Tennessee. The interdependent research methodology incorporates (1) developing an industry questionnaire based on a comprehensive literature review, (2) disseminating the questionnaire to construction professionals in Tennessee, (3) analysing the results through a combination of descriptive and bivariate statistical analysis techniques, and finally (4) interpreting the results and drawing conclusions and recommendations. The survey results showed that over two thirds of the firms investigated used instituted systems of leading indicators. Yet, firms that had no knowledge of the concept or did not use it, still applied a wide range of practices similar to leading indicators. The most popular indicators amongst the studied firms were related to simple safety tasks and routine practices such as housekeeping, use of personal protective equipment (PPEs), and substance abuse programs. Conversely, more complex indicators related to strategic and policymaking programs, such as contractual safety obligations and evaluation of safety meetings and reporting systems, were less popular. Such complex practices were more likely to be used by larger companies over smaller ones. Following these findings of this research, and by repeating similar studies on other local and regional areas, more effective use of leading indicators can be achieved with greater understanding of current safety systems, contributing eventually to reaching a zero-accident construction industry

Guidance on safety management requirements for smaller sized dangerous chemical enterprises: the SMMARTEN project

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Towards a Framework for Steering Safety Performance: A Review of the Literature on Leading Indicators

While remarkable progress has been made recently to improve the state of occupational safety, the number of occupational accidents is still unacceptable. In addition, the organizational costs related to these safety problems in the workplace are staggering. Therefore, effective strategies are needed to guide the continuous improvement of safety performance. Common approaches include setting safety goals, identifying the key activities/interventions to reach those goals, and evaluating performance. The most challenging and fundamental issue within these approaches is evaluating safety performance. While it has been a focus of safety professionals, concerns still exist among researchers with regard to how safety performance can be appropriately and accurately measured to improve decision support systems. Recently, researchers in the field of safety have begun directing efforts towards new approaches for measuring safety performance by addressing leading indicators. However, because of its nature and utility, the ideas and concepts of leading indicators have remained unclear. In an effort to overcome this challenge, this study attempts to distinguish between the two common aspects of safety performance, observable activities and outcomes. The importance of using leading indicators for steering safety performance is then highlighted. In order to meet these objectives, the results chain model, which has been introduced by several researchers for outlining the program development, is employed. The elements of the results chain model are then interrelated with relevant safety concepts. As a result, the relationship between the leading and lagging indicators and safety performance is identified. A set of leading indicators that predict safety performance is proposed. Further, the important implications of this study for both academic communities and practitioners are discussed as well