T2: How adding intelligence can dramatically reduce energy consumption –
cheaply
Pilgrim Beart
Today
• The size of the energy gap• Online Home Platforms• How can they help?• From Data into Information
“You see, we should make use of the forces of nature
and should obtain all our power in this way. Sunshine is a form of energy,
wind and sea currents are manifestations of this energy.
Do we make use of them? Oh no! We burn forests and coal, like tenants burning down our front door for heating. We live like wild settlers and not as though these resources
belong to us.“
Thomas A. Edison, 1916
About
AlertMe:• 32 people in Cambridge
– Mainly CU grads, mainly technical
• Backed by world’s largest cleantech VC’s• Online platform for home energy management
Pilgrim:• Computer Engineer by vocation• Entrepreneur• Board-level, chip-level, software, RF … now energy• “Engineering is the solution!”… now what’s the
problem?
Government push Consumer pull
…Utilities stuck in the middle
Government Push
• Energy Security • Climate Change
EDF
Fossil+Nuclear
Renewables
Transport
Other
Supply Demand
Gap
Home
4.6% in 2008
15% in 2015
29%
BERR 2008 SEWTHA
Consumer Pull
• Average UK household:– Disposable income £14,520
U-switch press releases, 6 June 2008
– Domestic energy bill £1,213 (8.3%) U-switch press release 26 Aug 2008)
• 90% of consumers concerned about energy billsOnePoll Survey of 1000 broadband users, Sep 2008
Utilities stuck in the middle
• £1bn/year towards energy efficiency– Otherwise windfall tax, or lose license
• Energy-saving: saturated?
• Energy is a commodity– Centrica pays 75% tax on supply– <50% of 2008 revenue was from supply
Insulation measureHouseholds with this
measure
1976 2005
Loft insulation 51% 95%
Double glazing 10% 84%
Hot water tank insulation 74% 95%
Where does UK energy go?
Personalenergy consumption
Electrical things 18kWh/d
Heating 40kWh/d
Transport 40kWh/d
Householdenergy consumption
SEWTHA
“Approximately 10% of domestic electricity consumption is wasted by appliances left on standby”Programmes to reduce household energy consumption, NAO report 2 July 2008
3,300 kWh
20,500 kWh
Electricity
Natural Gas
USWITCH JUNE 2008
California
49 therms/household/month=588 per year= 17,000 kWh
Electricity
Natural Gas
5914 kWh
17000 kWh
http://www.pge.com/about/environment/calculator/assumptions.shtmlhttp://www.californiaenergyefficiency.com/docs/EEStrategicPlan.pdf
Abatement cost
Government White Paper on Nuclear Power, Jan 2008
OnlineHome
Platforms
And their potential tosave energy
AlertMe
you are online…mobile phone penetration : 116%
…your home is onlinehomes with broadband : 200m+
connects
AlertMe
you … …to your home
15
Coordinating the Smart Home
Online Home Platform
Engaging with the consumerInform and control the homefrom anywhere in the world:• Web• SMS text messages• Phone calls• Email• Palmtops (e.g. iPhone)• IPTV integration (channel or
overlay)• Billing integration APIs
At-a-glance in-home information
Real-time and historical information
Relevant Functionality
• Devices accurately measure temperature
• Report back minute-by-minute– Build-up temperature profile of whole
house
• Keyfobs detect occupancy– Immediately react
• Door/window sensors suspend HVAC– Particularly relevant to social housing
• Sensing room occupancy
How might online home platforms help?
3 examples
• Heating control – address the elephant!– 60-80% of total household consumption
• Whole-house metering– Second-by-second– Therefore Disaggregation (itemised energy)– Google Powermeter
• Per-appliance - control and monitoring– Smart Plug– Automatically reduce standby consumption
(night/away)– Run during off-peak– Better control of consumption
Benefits
• Government– Fastest, cheapest way to reduce carbon
• Utilities– Provable “negawatts”– Layered services for replacement
revenue
• Consumers– Save money, more comfort
From data into information
(Temperature and Occupancy)
vs. TimeTime of Month Time of Day
Presence
Temperature
At home:
Away:
Night:
(data dithered to show density)
Dataset 1011
Temperature vs. Presence
Tem
pera
ture
At Home Away Night
Averages, or everything
• Previous slides plotted only the average of all indoor temperatures
• But we can also plot:Min/Av/Max indoor data All data
Information we can deducefrom this data
Type of heating system
Storage radiators heat-up slowly using economy electricity at night, then cool
down slowly during the day
Central-heating (gas or oil) heats-up fast when turned on
Times when heating system runs
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
0 4 8 12 16 20
Boiler STARTS in the morning
Boiler turning ON to regulate heat
Boiler turning OFF to regulate heat
Boiler STOPS in the evening
Av indoor temps on 28 Nov for dataset 1005
Thermal mass/insulation
datasets 1005 and 1003
At night, the temperature in the house 1005 falls about twice as quickly as the temperature in house 1003 (compare trajectories from midnight to 4am, starting at 18C).
House 1005 House 1003
Seasonal effects
(from an earlier dataset)
Occupants Behaviour
Hour of the week
Sun SatMon Tue Wed Thu Fri
At home
Away
Night
dataset 1008
Gets up at 6:30am on weekdays
Out of house by
9am
Asleep by 11pm
Gets up at 9:30am on Sundays
Typical occupancy
Average "at home"-ness
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
0 4 8 12 16 20
Hour of Day
Average "at home"-ness
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1
0 4 8 12 16 20
Hour of Day
These occupants sleep at home.Home is often occupied during the day.
This occupant often sleeps away.Home often not occupied during the day
“young family” “free and single”
Is temperature well-managed?
At Home Away Night At Home Away Night
No.
Heating running even at night or when house is empty.
Temperatures high.
Reasonably.
Still opportunities to optimisehighs & lows.
Customer A Customer B
Over/under-heated rooms
Nan’s lounge is on average under-heated
Dining Room is on average over-heated
Example Messaging• Behavioural advice
“Dining room is on average 2 degrees above a comfortable temperature. Suggest turning down radiator to save ~£23/year.
“Rooms typically heated to 19C. This is 1 degree lower than average for your area – congratulations on being an energy leader!
“Your house loses a lot of heat at night, particularly in your hallway. Click here for advice.
• Automatic improvements“Your heating could turn on 25 minutes later each morning and
still keep your house comfortable. Estimated annual savings £37.
“Allowing the temperature to drop to 15C when you’re out could save you £103/year. Click here to do this.
“Click here to turn your heating down when you’re away – this year you would have saved an estimated £75 so far by doing this.
“You’ve been away for 2 days but your heating is still on. Reply with “off”?
Achievable CO2 reduction
• Behavioural– Hard to prove– Academic studies show 5-15%, even with primitive
display– Assume 5%
• Automatic– Heating 10% (17.5% of heating’s 60%)– Standby 1.4% (10% of electricity’s 20%)– Utilities can prove total negawatts
• If the 180m broadband users in Europe+USA used AlertMe, savings = 250 million tons of CO2/year
• Cost per MW = £368k– vs. £2.6m for offshore wind– vs. $3m for nuclear
ECI, Oxford
So what’s “T2”?
TED TalksRay Anderson“The business logic of sustainability”
1
So what’s “T2”?
TED TalksRay Anderson“The business logic of sustainability”
2
References• www.alertme.com• www.californiaenergyefficiency.com/docs/EEStrategicPlan.pdf• www.pge.com/about/environment/calculator/assumptions.shtml• www.eci.ox.ac.uk/research/energy/electric-metering.php • lightbucket.wordpress.com/2008/04/12/step-one-home-insulation/ • www.greenandsave.com/master_roi_table.html• www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/
ray_anderson_on_the_business_logic_of_sustainability.html• www.withouthotair.com/
Pilgrim Beart
That’s all folks…
• Thanks for listening– What can I do for you?
• Free kit to study home energy or behaviour?• Summer jobs?• Full-time jobs?
– What can you do for me?• Algorithms, ideas, technology, thinking, PR,
….
Pilgrim Beart
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