Document Type
Article
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Disciplines
Engineering | Social and Behavioral Sciences
Abstract
This work describes the Behaviour Demand Response approach proposed in the context of the EU Horizon 2020 E2District project, which aims at achieving energy efficiency in District Heating and Cooling (DHC) systems applied in building blocks. Behaviour Demand Response (BDR) can be understood as the attempt to adjust the demand for power in accordance with supply side constraints, instead of adjusting the supply side alone without considering the potential flexibility of the demand. In contrast to this, typical current energy systems assume a rather strict distinction between a consumer driven demand side behaviour on one end and a matching supply side, usually provided by the energy grid, on the other end, with the primary objective of always satisfying consumer demands regardless of the constraints on the supply side. Demand side behaviour has always been modelled by energy suppliers to adapt production accordingly. There have been always incentive schemes in place to influence demand side behaviour like different tariffs according to supply side constrains. However, nowadays modern communication technology enables a much more granular and individualised approach. By including the building occupants in the energy optimisation process and considering their ability to interact with the environment as flexibility asset we are aiming to go beyond what purely technical solutions can achieve. The approach proposed here aims at modelling demand behaviour not only as an external factor to the system, but by incorporating the individual building occupant and his/her characteristics as an integral part of the system itself. We propose to use a rigorous behavioural model to translate dynamic supply side constrains into adequate prosumer interactions, taking all relevant behavioural aspects like motivation, intention, personal traits and environment/context parameters into account. This model-based optimisation approach enables to target the right person at the right time in the right place with the right message/suggestion, dynamically involving the building occupant in the process as active participant/prosumer. This shifts the paradigm in the sense that occupants are not just consumers of energy anymore, but through their behaviour and how systems works today they can become producers of energy, too, the so called prosumers. This can either be through the availability of local production systems, like CHPs, but it is not limited to a situation where building occupants have production assets at their disposal. From the perspective of the overall energy grid, also the flexibility of their consumption creates a role as active assets in the systems, as soon as it is possible to engage with them and influence their behaviour according to supply side constraints.
Recommended Citation
Blanke J, Beder C, Twomey E, Ozdemir SA, Klepal M. E2District: Behaviour Demand Response. Proceedings. 2017; 1(7):691. https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings1070691
Publication Details
Proceedings 2017, 1(7).