Leveraging the Internet of Things and Open Data to Support Clean Energy

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As the devastating consequences of climate change become more pronounced, transformational changes are required in all areas of society. The aim of this research program is to support Canadian and international efforts to halt the progression of climate change and transition to a sustainable, low-carbon economy. Achieving a sustainable, low-carbon economy will require substantial changes in electricity supply and demand conditions. The smart grid, enabled by advanced information and communications technologies, offers much promise in this regard. This research program focuses on how two emerging trends within the smart grid, the Internet of Things (IoT) and open data, can be used to support the development of clean energy technologies (energy cleantech). Customer-side applications enabled by IoT and open data can contribute to improving energy efficiency, increasing demand management effectiveness, and facilitating the integration of distributed renewable energy generation, such as rooftop solar. In addition, the IoT, in combination with open data, offers opportunities for creating new value-added energy management services, and could lead to new business models and peer-to-peer electricity markets. Two streams of research make up this program. The first stream investigates data and information management challenges associated with energy cleantech initiatives and provides recommendations for addressing these challenges. The second stream focuses on the design of IoT- and open data-enabled applications to reduce informational barriers and create new value-added products, services, and decision-support systems for clean energy. A participatory design thinking approach will be applied to involve key stakeholders (such as customers, electricity utilities, technology providers and innovators) in the development of cleantech applications and services from the initial problem definition, to design, idea generation, solution prototyping, and testing. This program breaks new ground by integrating knowledge at the intersection of IoT, open data, and clean energy. The theoretical contributions of the research will serve as a guide for future research, clean energy innovation, and evidence-based policy-making by highlighting critical challenges for big and open data. In addition, the research will result in practical IoT and open data solutions that address real-world problems or develop new opportunities for clean energy. The approach of working in the field with energy cleantech energy innovators will permit faster knowledge transfer and deliver more immediately usable solutions that help to position Canada as a global leader this this area.