Digital Agent Networking for Customer Energy Reduction (DANCER)

通过终端用户之间的合理合作和技术进步，可以更容易地实现长期的能源消耗减少。监测建筑物内的能源使用情况需要清晰可靠的方法，并提供有意义和有益的产出。最终用户在这方面发挥着关键作用，因为能源使用围绕着他们的存在和舒适度。因此，随着生活方式和工作模式的改变，数字创新的新方法可以帮助降低能耗。能源计量方案现在很流行，并提供能源使用和成本的数据，但沟通是单行道。因此，只有当用户不断更改家中的公用设施使用时，这些信息才有用。然而，导致能量减少的行为变化会相对迅速地消退，用户会感到权力减少。去年，尽管计量是一项受欢迎的投资，但住宅部门的排放量增长了13.4%。基于这些信息，交互式系统可以帮助解决这个问题。消费者意识到创新技术可以提高他们的生活质量。然而，只有当用户对他们周围的技术充满信心时，两者之间才能建立持久的联系。当用户和技术人员在系统设计过程中共同工作时，这种情况更有可能发生。DANCER从用户行为分析、计量方案、无线传感器和嵌入式软件中获取见解，产生一个系统，可以交互和自动管理用户在室内环境中的能源消耗。它将根据用户的习惯定制能源消耗，旨在减少能源消耗。为了实现这一目标，DANCER采用多学科方法，将心理学、社会和经济研究、无线通信和计算机科学的知识结合起来，提供一个可行的解决方案，使能源供应和消费者链上的所有利益相关者都受益。为此，将收集和研究用户的能源消费习惯，为能源控制系统的设计以及DANCER系统的用户界面提供信息。基线信息将从最终用户样本中收集。这将与相关新兴文献的见解相结合。此外，将使用迭代参与式设计方法来探索用户对该项目中使用的数字技术的感受，以及他们如何想象这些技术可以帮助他们减少能源消耗和碳足迹。随后，越来越成熟的版本的DANCER系统将通过志愿者的一系列试点研究进行预先测试，以便用户对用于监测和交互式管理其能源使用的传感器、网络和控制策略的查询可以进一步检查。最后，将在对照试验中对成熟的DANCER系统进行测试，其中将为家庭样本提供DANCER或分配到适当的控制条件。该试验将能够分析该系统对用户能源相关行为、能源和碳排放的影响。DANCER系统的操作如下。无线传感器网络将采用新颖的传感和通信机制，监测用户的运动和一系列电器的能源使用。这些数据，连同通过智能手机应用程序直接从终端用户那里收集的信息（例如，减少20%能源使用的指示）或从用户习惯间接推断的信息，将被输入决策代理，该代理将决定何时打开/关闭某些电器以及开关多长时间。上述由物业代理收集的资料，会按每间住宅的情况，传送至一个中央远程资料库。因此，可以得出能源消耗和用户习惯的全局视图。反过来，这些信息可以用来指导利益相关者以更有效和高效的方式供应和消费能源。

Long-term energy consumption reduction can be achieved more readily through sensible cooperation between end users and technological advancements. Monitoring energy use within buildings requires clear and reliable methods with outputs that are meaningful and helpful. End users play a pivotal role in this as energy use revolves around their presence and comfort. Hence, with changing lifestyles and working patterns, energy consumption reduction can be aided by new approaches in digital innovation. Energy metering schemes are now popular and provide data on energy use and cost, but communicatively are a one-way street. Hence, this information is only beneficial if users continually make changes to utility use within their home. However, behavioural changes inducing energy reduction fade relatively quickly and users feel less empowered. Last year, residential sector emissions rose by 13.4% despite metering being a popular investment. Based on this information, interactive systems can help address this problem.Consumers appreciate that innovative technology can increase their quality of life. However, a lasting bond between the two can only occur when users have confidence in the technology around them. This is more likely to happen when users and technologists work collectively in the system design process. DANCER takes insights from users' behaviour analysis, metering schemes, wireless sensors and embedded software to produce a system that both interactively and automatically manages users' energy consumption within indoor environments. It will tailor users' energy consumption to their habits aiming to reduce energy consumption. To achieve this DANCER adopts a multidisciplinary approach where knowledge from psychology, social and economic research, wireless communication and computer science unite to provide a viable solution that is beneficial to all the stakeholders on the energy supply-consumer chain.To the above aim, users' energy consumption habits will be collected and studied to inform both the design of the energy control system as well as the user interface in the DANCER system. Baseline information will be collected from samples of end users. This will be combined with insights from the relevant emerging literature. Moreover, an iterative participatory design approach will be used to explore how users feel about the digital technologies to be employed in this project and how they imagine these technologies can assist them in reducing their energy consumption and carbon footprint. Increasingly mature versions of the DANCER system will then be pre-tested through a series of pilot studies with volunteers so that users' queries about the sensors, networks and control policies being used to monitor and interactively manage their energy use can be further examined. Finally, the mature DANCER system will be tested in a control trial experiment where samples of households will be either provided with DANCER or allocated to appropriate control conditions. The trial will enable the analysis of the effect of the system on users' energy related behaviours, energy and carbon emissions.The DANCER system will act as follows. Wireless sensor networks will employ novel sensing and communication mechanisms which will monitor users' movements and the energy use of a range of appliances. These data, together with the information either collected directly from end users via their smart phone application (e.g. indications to reduce energy use by 20%) or inferred indirectly from user habits, will be fed into a decision making agent that will decide when to switch on/off certain appliances and for how long. The above information collected by the agent, on a per-dwelling basis, will be sent to a centralised remote database. As a result, a global view of the energy consumption and user habits can be derived. In return, this information can be used to guide stakeholders to more effective and efficient way of supplying and consuming energy.