Supporting Decentralised Energy Management through Smart Monitoring Systems in Public Authorities

open access articleEnergy infrastructure in large, multi-site organisations such as municipal authorities, is often heterogeneous in terms of factors such as age and complexity of the technology deployed. Responsibility for day-to-day operation and maintenance of this infrastructure is typically dispersed across large numbers of individuals and impacts on even larger numbers of building users. Yet, the diverse population of stakeholders with an interest in the operation and development of this dynamic infrastructure typically have little or no visibility of energy and water usage. This paper explores the integration of utility metering data into urban management processes via the deployment of an accessible “smart meter” monitoring system. The system is deployed in three public authorities and the impact of the system is investigated based on the triangulation of evidence from semi-structured interviews and case studies. The research is framed from three perspectives: the bottom-up micro-level (individual and local), the top-down macro-level (organisation-wide and strategic) and intermediate meso-level (community-focused and operation). Evidence shows that improved communication across these levels enables a decentralisation and joining-up of energy management. Evidence points to the importance of reducing the cognitive load associated with monitoring systems. Better access to information supports more local autonomy, easier communication and cooperation between stakeholders and fosters the conditions necessary for adaptive practices to emerge

Evaluation of oil/gas infrastructure exposure to climate change burdens in the Niger Delta

Climate change extreme weather events such as flood, rising temperature and windstorms pose significant threats to oil and gas infrastructure in the Niger. Due to a gap in evaluation of assets exposure in the region, little is known about their level of exposure hierarchies. In this paper, analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is used to evaluate the exposure of selected oil and gas infrastructure to prevailing climate burdens for sustainable adaptation planning. A combination of observational and interdisciplinary stakeholder decision-making process in four (4) multinational oil companies was used to elicit data through focus group and face-to-face interviews. Participants pairwise compared selected infrastructure using AHP questionnaire for pairwise comparison of infrastructure in a matrix system. Multiple-input (Mi-AHP) analysis revealed assets exposure to climate burdens in the following order; pipelines, terminals, roads/bridges, flow stations, loading bay, transformers/HVC and oil well-heads. Exposure is forces vulnerability of infrastructure to flood and direct heatwaves while the presence of climate burdens and proximity to areas below 4.5 m above sea level further exacerbate exposure. The research also found that interdependence, criticality, obsolescence, and adaptive capacity are other factors responsible for exposure and vulnerability of infrastructure in the Niger Delta. The result further revealed that infrastructure with weak adaptive capacities and significant obsolescence are more vulnerable if exposed to severe climate burdens. The outcome of this investigation provide hands-on data for responsible stakeholders and policymakers in the oil and gas industry for effective and sustainable planning and prioritisation of adaptation investment strategies

Summative behaviour change evaluation of up-to-date metered energy feedback in European public buildings

Energy consumption practices and behaviour are increasingly an important focus of attention, for energy efficiency measures. Such is the demand caused by behaviour at the level of the individual, it may cancel out the benefits of engineering solutions, such as more energy efficient appliances (Adua, 2010). This paper focuses on an evaluation of the SMARTSPACES project and its effect on energy-related behaviour change. The project provided two services: an energy management service (EMS) and an energy decision support service (EDSS). These services were implemented in over 450 public buildings across 11 European cities in 8 European countries (Serbia, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain, Turkey and United Kingdom). Building professionals (energy managers) primarily used the EMS and building staff used the EDSS. These services intended to inform, support and enable target audiences to use up-to-date metered feedback to reduce energy use in public buildings. The theory of change that underpins the evaluation framework is based in the Elaboration Likelihood Model which aims to understand how communication can influence attitudes and the Theory of Planned Behaviour that examines which attitudes are more likely to predict intentions and behaviours (Wilson, 2014). The paper presents results of ex-ante and ex-post surveys to building staff about their levels of awareness, attitudes, perceived control behaviour and intentions in three selected cities: Bristol, Leicester and Venlo. Outcomes varied across the examined cities depending upon the type of information presented, the level of engagement of users with the energy saving campaigns and the amount of previous energy management work undertaken by buildings’ facilities and energy management professionals

Briefing paper: Sustainable procurement and carbon management: the potential for savings

This briefing paper is the first output of the JISC funded project: PROCO2. The aim of PROCO2 is to explore how to re-engineer procurement and re-imagine the University thereby reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Specifically, the project aims to develop an ICT based decision-making tool enabling De Montfort University (and thereafter other HEIs) to reduce Scope 3 emissions, notably procurement. The project will involve a review of the impact of Scope 3 emissions, procurement best practice in the HEI sector, the design and construction and testing of an ICT tool to enable improved decision making around the environmental impact of suppliers, goods and services, and finally, to understand the organizational learning and change management issues surrounding such a change. This briefing paper sets out the landscape of sustainable procurement in 2011 by firstly providing a brief overview of the procurement function before second, reviewing definitions of sustainable procurement and giving an overview of the current policy context and range of organisations involved in sustainable procurement. Third and finally, the paper will show the potential for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions through more sustainable management of procurement decisions. This section takes the form of a case study of De Montfort University that should be illustrative and instructive for other Higher Education Institutions

Utility-service provision as an example of a complex system

Utility–service provision is a process in which products are transformed by appropriate devices into services satisfying human needs and wants. Utility products required for these transformations are usually delivered to households via separate infrastructures, i.e., real-world networks such as, e.g., electricity grids and water distribution systems. owever, provision of utility products in appropriate quantities does not itself guarantee hat the required services will be delivered because the needs satisfaction task requires not only utility products but also fully functional devices. Utility infrastructures form complex networks and have been analyzed as such using complex network theory. However, little research has been conducted to date on integration of utilities and associated services within one complex network. This paper attempts to fill this gap in knowledge by modelling utility–service provision within a household with a hypergraph in which products and services are represented with nodes whilst devices are hyperedges spanning between them. Since devices usually connect more than two nodes, a standard graph would not suffice to describe utility–service provision problem and therefore a hypergraph was chosen as a more appropriate representation of the system. This paper first aims to investigate the properties of hypergraphs, such as cardinality of nodes, betweenness, degree distribution, etc. Additionally, it shows how these properties can be used while solving and optimizing utility– service provision problem, i.e., constructing a so-called transformation graph. The transformation graph is a standard graph in which nodes represent the devices, storages for products, and services, while edges represent the product or service carriers. Construction of different transformation graphs to a defined utility– service provision problem is presented in the paper to show how the methodology is applied to generate possible solutions to provision of services to households under given local conditions, requirements and constraints

A conceptual framework for vulnerability assessment of climate change impact on critical oil and gas infrastructure in the Niger Delta

The impact of climate change on the Niger Delta is severe, as extreme weather events have inflicted various degrees of stress on critical oil/gas infrastructure. Typically, assets managers and government agencies lack a clear framework for evaluating the vulnerability of these systems. This paper presents a participatory framework for the vulnerability assessment of critical oil/gas infrastructure to climate change impacts in the Niger Delta context. Through a critical review of relevant literature and triangulating observational and exploratory data from the field, this paper has developed a conceptual framework with three elements: (1) a preliminary scoping activity; (2) the vulnerability assessment; and (3) mainstreaming the results into institutional asset management codes. Scoping involves the definition of research aims and objectives, review of prevailing climate burdens and impacts, exploratory investigation, screening for new (planned) assets and selection of relevant infrastructure. The emphasis on screening for planned infrastructure is to facilitate the incorporation of sustainable adaptive capacities into the original design of identified systems. A conceptual framework for vulnerability assessment is presented as a robust systematic iterative model for the evaluation of selected assets using an appropriate methodology. In this study, analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is applied while mainstreaming as part of the research framework is emphasised to aid commercial implementation from an expert-based perspective. The study recommends the use of other suitable methodologies and systematic approaches to test the flexibility of the framework

Implementation of analytic hierarchy process in evaluation of vulnerable critical oil and gas infrastructures to climate change impacts

The Niger Delta oil and gas infrastructures are under severe threat of climate change impacts exacerbated by frequent flood activities, rising temperature, surging Atlantic tides, persistent heavy rainfall, and windstorms. This requires sustainable adaptation mechanisms to cope with vulnerabilities, but experts are challenged with the scale of vulnerability and ability to prioritise adaptation responses according to system criticality. Through a systematic review and synthesise of criticality assessment criteria, this paper applied multiple input analytic hierarchy process (Mi-AHP) in prioritising the criticality of seven stratified vulnerable infrastructures to ease adaptation planning. The result indicates that oil terminals, flow stations and roads/bridges are most critical infrastructures with an EV value = 0.27, 0.19, and 0.15 respectively. The result further indicated that transformers/high voltage cables are the fourth most critical systems obtaining EV = 0.14 while Pipelines, loading bays and wellheads were ranked fifth, sixth, and seventh with EV = 0.11, 0.09 and 0.05. Accordingly, the study emphasised the need for sustainable and pragmatic adaptation planning leveraging the outcome of the study to effectively manage and reduce the vulnerability of climate change impacts on oil and gas infrastructures in the Niger Delta

Sufficiently engaged? How smart metering systems help local authorities become smart cities

A significant cultural shift occurred recently with the majority of the world’s population now living in cities and contributing over two thirds of global carbon emissions (UNEP, 2015). If countries like the UK are to meet their challenging carbon reduction targets, 80% by 2050 for the UK, then how our cities are governed and managed to maximise energy efficiency is of vital importance. Faith is increasingly being placed in what are commonly referred to as ‘smart cities’ to meet these targets. Most visions of these smart cities though revolve around increased ICT efficiency through what has become known as the ‘digital economy.’ Smart meters are an example of this and offer clear potential for automated meter readings and innovative displays to help energy managers as well as facilitate better engagement of building users. Evidence is limited on the impact and challenges of ICT tools that genuinely attempt to engage building users across all levels of the organisation. This paper contributes to that evidence base by presenting findings from the H2020 EU-funded project EDI-Net (Energy Data Innovation Network). The project has designed three energy focused ICT tools with specific functionalities: 1) to track energy performance and communicate this performance in a user-friendly way (energy data dashboard and league tables), 2) to facilitate communication between stakeholders (online discussion forum), and 3) to manage intervention plans for energy efficiency (energy efficiency benchmarking tool). Do these tools come anywhere near fulfilling the potential of smart cities? The paper presents results of feedback from interviews with selected building users about the individual, social and institutional changes prompted by the EDI-Net ICT services in the three participating public authorities during the operation of EDI-Net: Leicester, Catalonia and Nuremberg

Institutional, social and individual behavioural effects of energy feedback in public buildings across eleven European cities

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.Better understanding of the factors influencing how people use energy in public buildings can help deliver more effective CO2 reduction strategies. This paper describes the institutional, social and individual behavioural effects of communication campaigns in over 500 public buildings in 11 European cities. These campaigns involved engaging with staff to reduce energy use through feedback services based on information from sub hourly meter readings. A summative evaluation was conducted to understand impacts of different information provision in these cities. Qualitative data were gathered through a set of interviews with 40 building professionals at the central or building level. These interviews identified differences in how the energy efficiency communication-based campaigns were implemented at each site and elicited factors to explain how users’ perceptions and understanding changed as a result of the interventions. The evaluation framework helped to identify not only improvements in the delivery of communication-based campaigns, but also the communication factors that impacted on individual behaviour change. The research highlighted the influence of institutional and social effects on individual beliefs and norms. To achieve more effective change in attitudes to reduce use, energy feedback needs to be supported with engagement activities, such as energy coaches, campaigns, and interactive online fora

Life cycle assessment and environmental profile evaluation of lead-free piezoelectrics in comparison with lead zirconate titanate

The prohibition of lead in many electronic components and devices due to its toxicity has reinvigorated the race to develop substitutes for lead zirconate titanate (PZT) based mainly on the potassium sodium niobate (KNN) and sodium bismuth titanate (NBT). However, before successful transition from laboratory to market, critical environmental assessment of all aspects of their fabrication and development must be carried out in comparison with PZT. Given the recent findings that KNN is not intrinsically ‘greener’ than PZT, there is a tendency to see NBT as the solution to achieving environmentally lead-free piezoelectrics competitive with PZT. The lower energy consumed by NBT during synthesis results in a lower overall environmental profile compared to both PZT and KNN. However, bismuth and its oxide are mainly the by-product of lead smelting and comparison between NBT and PZT indicates that the environmental profile of bismuth oxide surpasses that of lead oxide across several key indicators, especially climate change, due to additional processing and refining steps which pose extra challenges in metallurgical recovery. Furthermore, bismuth compares unfavourably with lead due to its higher energy cost of recycling. The fact that roughly 90–95% of bismuth is derived as a by-product of lead smelting also constitutes a major concern for future upscaling. As such, NBT and KNN do not offer absolute competitive edge from an environmental perspective in comparison to PZT. The findings in this work have global practical implications for future Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) legislation for piezoelectric materials and demonstrate the need for a holistic approach to the development of sustainable functional materials