Using data from connected thermostats to track large power outages in the United States

The detection of power outages is an essential activity for electric utilities. A large, national dataset of Internet-connected thermostats was used to explore and illustrate the ability of Internet-connected devices to geospatially track outages caused by hurricanes and other major weather events. The method was applied to nine major outage events, including hurricanes and windstorms. In one event, Hurricane Irma, a network of about 1000 thermostats provided quantitatively similar results to detailed utility data with respect to the number of homes without power and identification of the most severely affected regions. The method generated regionally uniform outage data that would give emergency authorities additional visibility into the scope and magnitude of outages. The network of thermostat-sensors also made it possible to calculate a higher resolution version of outage duration (or SAIDI) at a level of customer-level visibility that was not previously available

Of impacts, agents, and functions: An interdisciplinary meta-review of smart home energy management systems research

Smart home energy management technologies (SHEMS) have long been viewed as a promising opportunity to manage the way households use energy. Research on this topic has emerged across a variety of disciplines, focusing on different pieces of the SHEMS puzzle without offering a holistic vision of how these technologies and their users will influence home energy use moving forward. This paper presents the results of a systematic, interdisciplinary meta-review of SHEMS literature, assessing the extent to which it discusses the role of various SHEMS components in driving energy benefits. Results reveal a bias towards technical perspectives and controls approaches that seek to drive energy impacts such as load management and energy savings through SHEMS without user or third-party participation. Not only are techno-centric approaches more common, there is also a lack of integration of these approaches with user-centric, information-based solutions for driving energy impacts. These results suggest future work should investigate more holistic solutions for optimal impacts on household energy use. We hope these results will provoke a broader discussion about how to advance research on SHEMS to capitalize on their potential contributions to demand-side management initiatives moving forward

Open Software-Architecture for Building Monitoring and Control

Information technology can increase energy efficiency by improving the control of energy-using devices and systems. Awareness of this potential is not new—ideas for applications of information technology for energy efficiency have been promoted for more than 20 years. But much of the potential gain from the application of information technology has not yet been realized. Today a combination of new requirements for the operation of the electricity system and the development of new technology has the potential to cause a rapid increase in the pace of adoption of improved controls. In this paper we discuss one promising avenue for technology advancement. First, we review some basic concepts with emphasis on open software-architecture. Then we describe the components of XBOS, a realization of this open software-architecture. XBOS has the ability to monitor and control many different sensors and devices using both wired and wireless communication and a variety of communication protocols. Finally, we illustrate the capabilities of XBOS with examples from an XBOS installation in a small commercial office building in Berkeley California

What former party leaders can tell us about Enrico Letta’s prospects with the Democratic Party

Enrico Letta has been elected as the new leader of the Italian Democratic Party, with almost unanimous approval at the party’s national assembly. But do party leaders that win large victories in leadership elections last longer than those who win close contests? Drawing on a new study, Giulia Vicentini and Andrea Pritoni identify how five ... Continue

Metodi e macchine per la realizzazione di sottopassi stradali e ferroviari

La tesi descrive lo stato dell'arte dei metodi di realizzazione di sottopassi stradali e ferroviari ad uso pedonale, ciclabile, carrabile o ferroviario e le principali macchine ad essi dedicate. Viene effettuata un'analisi critica dei vari sistemi, evidenziando pregi e difetti di ciascuno e concludendo con una valutazione tecnico-economica che a partire dal progetto consente l'individuazione del metodo più adatto alla sua esecuzione. The topic of this thesis is the state of the art of road or railway underpasses building methods, to be used by pedestrians, bycicles, cars and trains and the machines dedicated to them. A crytical analysis is performed, highlighting adv. and disadv. of each method and ending with a technical-economic evaluation that, based on the design, allows the individuation of the best realization method

Fault “Auto-correction” for HVAC Systems: A Preliminary Study

A Fault Detection and Diagnostics (FDD) tool is a type of energy management and information system that is designed to continuously identify the presence of faults and efficiency improvement opportunities through a 1-way interface to the building automation system and application of automated analytics. It is estimated that 5-30% energy saving can be achieved by employing FDD tools and implementing efficiency measures based on FDD findings. Although the potential of this technology is high, actual savings are only realized when an operator takes an action to fix the problem. There is a subset of faults that can be potentially addressed automatically by the system, without operator intervention. Automating this fault correction can significantly increase the savings generated by FDD tools and reduce the reliance on human intervention. This paper presents preliminary efforts towards delivering automated fault correction. It describes nine fault auto-correction algorithms for heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems that were developed to automatically correct faults or improve controls operation. It also presents preliminary testing results of one auto-correction algorithm (improve air handling unit static pressure setpoint reset) in a commercial building, located in Berkeley, California, US. The auto-correction algorithms and implementation frameworks of this initial study provide a foundation for future auto-correction algorithm development and novel schemes for improving building operation performance and reliability

Declining partisan representation at the sub-national level: assessing and explaining the strengthening of local lists in Italian municipalities (1995–2014)

In Western democracies political representation at the national level is still dominated by (old and new) political parties. This article shows that, instead, the representative role of parties may have declined at the local level. In Italy, for instance, the average share of municipal seats held by non-partisan councillors has almost tripled in the last 20 years. By using an original data set, this article classifies different types of Italian local lists, assesses their relationship with traditional parties and explains territorial variation in their success. The results suggest that local lists have become substantially stronger in small municipalities, in regions characterised by weak or declining political subcultures and where regionalist parties are absent or irrelevant. Finally, contrary to the expectation that declining partisanship is linked to modernisation processes and direct civic engagement, local lists have achieved their best results in the less developed areas of the country