INTELLIGENT ENERGY MANAGEMENT TOWARDS SELF SUFFICIENCY
INEMATSS:
Current systems lack of versatility to adapt to diverse ways of living and result in energy being wasted. In average dwellings, a single temperature is set up for an entire house and during long hours, as normally setting options only accept morning, evening and night set up. For this system to be efficient all the rooms in the house would need to be occupied /unoccupied at the same time, with the same heating/cooling requirements and during long periods of time. More advanced controls with zoning at the reach of homeowners still lack adaptability to varying room occupation conditions. The most advanced smart control systems are not at the technical and economical reach of homeowners. We believe that available technology is ready to put smart control energy management at the technical and economical reach of residential and small commercial buildings, this might allow for more building owners to conserve energy, reduce CO2 emissions and protect the environment.
The proposed method must continuously determine if an alternative source (solar panels, wind power) can satisfy the requirements or a traditional energy source (i.e. furnace, air conditioning system) should be used. The intelligent system will allow the appropriate alternative energy system installed to satisfy energy requirements when possible by frequently sensing the climatic conditions and comparing with thermal comfort data and expected occupancy. The management of the energy source to be used will interact with additional pieces of hardware implemented on the system as a network. This project aims to investigate the issues in adapting and implementing sources of energy and its management to bring together conventional sources of energy and alternative energy sources working in coordination and in an optimized case specific fashion..
Contribution to Society
The green energy act will stimulate green energy (Northen life NewsPaper on 26 February 2009) for several reasons: The manufacturing of renewable energy equipment (as rotor blades for wind turbines) will stimulate the demand of unprocessed materials (as steel), and will help to activate the economy. Also it will create more jobs as the demand for energy efficient systems, audits and solutions are increasingly necessary. It will reduce the cost of living of households and expenses in industry (as energy will be conserved). And most importantly it will help to protect our environment.
Version: 1.0 (September 3, 2009)
