KEY AREA | FUTURE ENERGY USE
CASE:
INNOVATIVE SMART HOUSE RUNS ON FOSSIL-FREE ELECTRICITY In March 2013, a family moved into a prototype flat – a living lab – in a new urban area of Stockholm. During a period of 12 months, automatic systems and new mobile tools that will enable them to keep track of their electricity consumption. Interactive Institute is responsible for designing the interface between the back-end systems and the residents.
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he task of lowering energy consumption and reducing co2 emissions is a global challenge. Acting on a local level, Interactive Institute has decided to get involved in a smart grid-research project that focuses on empowering residents with tools to control their electricity consumption in their apartments.
This may be the case but the setting must be right. By visualizing the energy consumption pattern throughout the day via a display, the residents get incentives to move certain parts of the consumption to more favorable times. “We are also providing planning tool that enables them to see what the next 24 hour-period will cost and the effect of their consumption pattern on co2 emissions,” adds Torstensson.
WORK TOGETHER WITH KEY INDUSTRY PLAYERS
The information needed for this is collected by an Carin Torstensson acts as project manager at automatic system that makes calculations based on Interactive Institute and both she and her colleagues instantaneous electricity rates, loads in the electricity work together with electricity providers, home network and the degree of environmentally friendly automation providers, construction companies, white goods sector, and kth in • Anton Gustafsson and Cecilia Katzeff from Interactive Institute in the prototype flat, this two-year research project funded by located in Stockholm Royal Seaport. vinnova. “We want people to adjust to the supply and demand of fossil-free electricity,” she says. “We believe that there are possible savings of up to 30 percent of co2 emissions in regards to electricity consumption for an ordinary family.”
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GET A GOOD OVERVIEW OF CONSUMPTION A common assumption is that it’s possible to optimize energy consumption through automation and changes in behavior.
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