I-Corps: Dynamic Real-Time Energy Management System

这个i-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是降低未来建筑和社区的能源成本，并改善电网运营。具体地说，这个项目可以通过以下方式造福社会：1)为未来的智能建筑和社区提供软件和硬件成套解决方案；2)通过减少公用事业账单来节省能源和资金；3)为下一代主动建筑启用技术。随着光伏系统、电动汽车和电池储能系统等分布式能源在建筑层面的普及，电力负荷模式变得不确定和多变，导致电网不稳定和能源浪费。在电网层面，可再生能源的引入也使电力系统的状态更加不确定和多变，这就需要更多的辅助服务来确保系统供电的充分性和可靠性。因此，对辅助服务供应的需求将大幅增加，公用事业将需要更灵活的负载。这个i-Corps项目将1)进行客户和用户访谈，并调查技术的更广泛需求，以验证产品价值主张；2)通过与客户和用户的面对面会议进行分析；以及3)基于客户访谈和价值主张验证制定业务计划。这项拟议的技术是一种针对建筑的创新硬件和软件解决方案，包括对居住行为模式的建模，预测太阳能发电和建筑能源需求，以及通过纳入动态电网信号预测控制智能能源设备。这些创新的节能技术在未来的住宅和商业建筑中都有明确的应用。在前人研究成果的基础上，开发了一个软件平台，在住宅和商业建筑中都表现出了显著的节能能力。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is reducing energy cost in future buildings and communities, and improving grid operations. Specifically, this project can benefit society by providing: 1) a software and hardware packaged solution for future smart buildings and communities; 2) the opportunity to save energy and money by reducing utility bills; 3) enabling technology for the next generation of proactive buildings. With the increasing penetration of distributed energy resources such as photovoltaic systems, electric vehicles, and battery energy storage systems at the individual building level, electrical load patterns becomes uncertain and variable, contributing to grid instability and energy waste. At the grid level, the introduction of renewable energy also makes the power system status more uncertain and variable, which requires more ancillary services to ensure system supply adequacy and reliability. Thus, the need for ancillary service provisions will increase substantially, and utility will require more flexible loads.This I-Corps project will 1) conduct customer and user interviews and investigate the broader needs of the technology to verify product value proposition; 2) conduct analysis based on customer needs through face to face meetings with customers and users in 1); and 3) develop business plan based on customer interviews and value proposition validation. The proposed technology is an innovative hardware and software solution for buildings that includes modeling of occupancy behavior patterns, forecasting solar energy generation and building energy demand, and predictive controlling smart energy devices through the incorporation of dynamic grid signals. These innovative energy-efficient technologies show a clear application to both residential and commercial buildings in the future. Based on previous research outcomes, a software platform has been developed that demonstrated significant energy cost saving capability in both residential and commercial buildings.