Bidirectional Charging (Vehicle-to-Home) in Home Energy Management Systems: Exploring Potentials with a Simulation Tool

The home will become the most important link between heat, electricity and mobility. For instance, the concept of Vehicle-to-Home (V2H) allows to use the average long parking times of electric vehicles for energy management applications in the household. In this study, we focus on developing a simulation model in the Home Energy Management System (HEMS) to explore the impact of bidirectional charging on household energy supply. Bidirectional charging allows electric vehicles not only to take energy but also to feed energy back to supply other consumers. The study addresses the following research question: What is the potential for increasing self-sufficiency through bidirectional charging in a modern single-family house with HEMS assets? First of all, bidirectional charging was researched in initial pilot projects, and the findings were used to validate the results. Furthermore, load profiles for household loads, heat loads (heat pumps) and production profiles (photovoltaics) were collected. Based on the findings from the literature, a simulation model was developed that considers the dynamic interactions between the electric vehicle and the system components in the household. Different scenarios of bidirectional charging could be simulated and compared e.g. with a unidirectional system. In addition, different parameters could be adapted and analyzed through a sensitivity analysis. Parameters of photovoltaic power, orientation of the photovoltaic system, capacity of vehicle battery and home storage, as well as daily consumption by kilometers driven were varied. The results of the simulations show that bidirectional charging has the potential to increase the self-sufficiency of renewable energy (in this case photovoltaics) in the household, to reduce electricity costs and indirectly to reduce the load from the energy grid. It is important to say that the potential strongly depends on individual user behavior, photovoltaic power and the presence of the vehicle on site. This study contributes to the scientific literature by presenting a simulation model for bidirectional charging in HEMS. The results provide important insights for households and the simulation model can be a decision support tool for the choice and sizing of system components in the HEMS. In addition, the study provides input for further research and development in the field of electromobility and home energy management systems

Ferrocenyl-coupled n-heterocyclic carbene complexes of gold(i): a successful approach to multinuclear anticancer drugs

Four gold(I) carbene complexes featuring 4-ferrocenyl substituted imidazol-2-ylidene ligands were investigated for antiproliferative and antivascular properties. They were active against a panel of seven cancer cell lines, including multidrug-resistant ones, with low micromolar or nanomolar IC50 (72 h) values, according to their lipophilicity and cellular uptake. The delocalised lipophilic cationic complexes 8 and 10 acted by increasing the reactive oxygen species in two ways: via a genuine ferrocene effect and by inhibiting the thioredoxin reductase. Both complexes gave rise to a reorganization of the F-actin cytoskeleton in endothelial and melanoma cells, associated with a G1 phase cell cycle arrest and a retarded cell migration. They proved antiangiogenic in tube formation assays with endothelial cells and vascular-disruptive on real blood vessels in the chorioallantoic membrane of chicken eggs. Biscarbene complex 10 was also tolerated well by mice where it led to a volume reduction of xenograft tumors by up to 80%

Widespread pesticide distribution in the European atmosphere questions their degradability in air

Risk assessment of pesticide impacts on remote ecosystems makes use of model-estimated degradation in air. Recent studies suggest these degradation rates to be overestimated, questioning current pesticide regulation. Here, we investigated the concentrations of 76 pesticides in Europe at 29 rural, coastal, mountain, and polar sites during the agricultural application season. Overall, 58 pesticides were observed in the European atmosphere. Low spatial variation of 7 pesticides suggests continental-scale atmospheric dispersal. Based on concentrations in free tropospheric air and at Arctic sites, 22 pesticides were identified to be prone to long-range atmospheric transport, which included 15 substances approved for agricultural use in Europe and 7 banned ones. Comparison between concentrations at remote sites and those found at pesticide source areas suggests long atmospheric lifetimes of atrazine, cyprodinil, spiroxamine, tebuconazole, terbuthylazine, and thiacloprid. In general, our findings suggest that atmospheric transport and persistence of pesticides have been underestimated and that their risk assessment needs to be improved

Widespread pesticide distribution in the European atmosphere questions their degradability in air

Risk assessment of pesticide impacts on remote ecosystems makes use of model-estimated degradation in air. Recent studies suggest these degradation rates to be overestimated, questioning current pesticide regulation. Here, we investigated the concentrations of 76 pesticides in Europe at 29 rural, coastal, mountain, and polar sites during the agricultural application season. Overall, 58 pesticides were observed in the European atmosphere. Low spatial variation of 7 pesticides suggests continental-scale atmospheric dispersal. Based on concentrations in free tropospheric air and at Arctic sites, 22 pesticides were identified to be prone to long-range atmospheric transport, which included 15 substances approved for agricultural use in Europe and 7 banned ones. Comparison between concentrations at remote sites and those found at pesticide source areas suggests long atmospheric lifetimes of atrazine, cyprodinil, spiroxamine, tebuconazole, terbuthylazine, and thiacloprid. In general, our findings suggest that atmospheric transport and persistence of pesticides have been underestimated and that their risk assessment needs to be improved

Testing Applications for Home Energy Management in the Field

Poster Presentation at the DPES Research Day, (25-11-2022) Testing Applications for Home Energy Management in the Fiel

Datenerhebung und Analyse der Heizenergieeffizienz mit Smart Home Technologien

In der Heizperiode 2023/2024 wurden im Rahmen eines empirischen Anwendungstests 14 Mietwohnungen in einem Mehrfamilienhaus mit Smart Home Thermostaten ausgestattet. Die vorliegende Arbeit analysiert anhand der von den smarten Thermostaten erfassten Messdaten zu Temperatur-Niveaus, Soll-Ist-Vergleiche der Raumtemperaturen und die Heizleistung (Ventilöffnung) am Heizkörper. Durch statistische Auswertungen konnten Kennzahlen abgeleitet und das Heizverhalten der Haushalte bewertet werden. Neben den Daten der intelligenten Thermostate wurden auch die monatlichen Heizenergieverbräuche der einzelnen Wohnungen analysiert und kategorisiert, was ein Benchmarking der Verbräuche innerhalb des Gebäudes ermöglichte. Zukünftige Arbeiten werden die Korrelation weiterer Parameter des Heizverhaltens und -verbrauchs sowie die Untersuchung von Langzeiteffekten beinhalten. Übergeordnetes Ziel ist es, die Heizenergieeffizienz zu steigern, indem den Mietenden durch die Auswertung digitaler Daten ein Feedback zu ihrem Heizverhalten und -verbrauch gegeben wird

Socio-Technical Analysis of Energy Demand Behaviour and Energy Consumption of Households Equipped with Smart Home Systems

German energy and climate policy pursues the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the long term. So that politics, industry and research institutes can find suitable strategies in this respect, information is needed on changes in the energy demand behaviour of final consumers. This paper analyses the energy consumption of 120 households equipped with smart home. It is examined whether statements about the participants and their environment can be made on the basis of the energy consumption (heat and electricity). In addition, the change in energy demand behaviour due to the use of smart home systems is analysed. For this purpose, the raw data of the field study will first be validated. Subsequently, procedures as well as methodologies, taking into account data sciences and analytics, are presented, which are used to visualize and analyse the energy consumption data. An outlook shows potentials for further studies in this field

Inhibition of Type IV Secretion Activity and Growth of by Cisplatin and Other Platinum Complexes.

Type IV secretion systems are protein secretion machineries that are frequently used by pathogenic bacteria to inject their virulence factors into target cells of their respective hosts. In the case of the human gastric pathogen Helicobacter pylori, the cytotoxin-associated gene (Cag) type IV secretion system is considered a major cause for severe disease, such as gastric cancer, and thus constitutes an attractive target for specific treatment options against H. pylori infections. Here, we have used a Cag type IV secretion reporter assay for screening a repurposing compound library for inhibitors targeting this system. We found that the antitumor agent cisplatin, a platinum coordination complex that kills target cells by formation of DNA crosslinks, is a potent inhibitor of the Cag type IV secretion system. Strikingly, we found that this inhibitory activity of cisplatin depends on a ligand exchange reaction which incorporates a solvent molecule (dimethylsulfoxide) into the complex, a modification which is known to be deleterious for DNA crosslinking, and for its anticancer activity. We extended our analysis to several analogous platinum complexes containing N-heterocyclic carbene, as well as DMSO or other ligands, and found varying inhibitory activities toward the Cag system which were not congruent with their DNA-binding properties, suggesting that protein interactions may cause the inhibitory effect. Inhibition experiments under varying conditions revealed effects on adherence and bacterial viability as well, and showed that the type IV secretion-inhibitory capacity of platinum complexes can be inactivated by sulfur-containing reagents and in complex bacterial growth media. Taken together, our results demonstrate DNA binding-independent inhibitory effects of cisplatin and other platinum complexes against different H. pylori processes including type IV secretion