Description:
Summary
Peak energy usage
occurs during the morning and in the evenings, especially in residential
properties. At the current rate of expansion, power plants would have to be
built at ane xponential rate to accommodate the current energy usage. Therefore,
it will be more cost effective to manage energy usage consistently throughout
the day than to increase the powerplant’s generation capacity.Centre for
Technology Infusion at La TrobeUniversity and Semitech Innovations have deployed
smart energy monitoring and management pilot at the University’s
R&DPark.
The Science and
Innovation
The pilot includes
complete automation of energy measurements and load management of the entire
building in the Technology Enterprise Centre on a real-time basis, by using 30
smart meters and a data concentrator, powered by SiMAC platform. The smart
meters and data management concentrator offer offer measurement of power
consumption in real-time for each tenant suite as an instantaneous value as well
as the entire energy consumption history at 30 minute intervals.The monitoring
system includes a configurable data collection scheduler which collects the data
readings for all nodes and stores it systematically in a database server. A
specialised user interface, based on context-aware and persuasive software
technologies, has been integrated to influence users to change their behaviour
and encourage energy conservation, resulting in reduction of green house gas
emission. The user interface offers graphical information about energy
consumption in the building in a hierarchical manner and provides users and
administrators the ability to drill down into detailed analysis of power
consumption, load management and cost. An advanced interactive display system
employing touch-screen and remote control capability has been developed to
enable users an easy way of access. The pilot can also be accessible anywhere in
the world via an advanced web-based interface, using PCs,PDAs, laptops, mobile
devices, etc.
SMART
LIVING – FUTURE DEVELOPMENT
The project is an
effort to contribute towards not only the reduction of energy demand, thus
addressing its impacts on the environment, but also the development of the
next-generation smart living environment. Smart living is the bridging of
boundaries between technologyand lifestyle beyond the confines of convenience,
entertainment and comfort. Smart living creates a conducive environment
compelling users to make right lifestyle choices, which not only have positive
health impacts but also offer cost saving and reduce environmental impacts.
Current research being carried out at La Trobe University is to integrate
wireless capability onto PLC microchips to provide a complete solution for smart
home/industrial resource management, including gas, water, electricity and
appliances.
The Intellectual Property
Smart Energy and Load Management System (PCT/AU2010/001160)