Theo Fens

Over recent years there have been several initiatives around the world that aim to roll out smart metering systems, especially within North America and member states of the European Union. Smart metering systems, giving essential conditions for smart grids in the energy sector, can offer services aimed at achieving many different goals beyond the main task of metering electricity consumption of households. Despite the many advantages gained by the smart metering system, there is a number of serious issues that may lead to the system's failure or inability to reach its goals. One such obstacle which can lead to consumers' rejection of smart meters is perceived security and privacy violations of consumers' information. The social rejection of smart meters poses a significant threat to a successful rollout and operation of the system as consumers represent a cornerstone in the fulfillment of goals such as energy efficiency and savings, by their active interaction with the s...

Smart home energy systems are technically possible to realize but are not yet applied on a large scale partly due to the fact that no common standards exist that enable interconnection of components that make up these smart energy systems. Multiple standards have been developed which are competing in standards battles. In this paper we conduct a step by step approach for the identification of these standards battles. By giving an overview of the different standards battles. This study aims to decrease uncertainty for firms and other stakeholders involved; firms may not be aware of the different standards battles that are being vied. The cases of standards battles that are arrived at in this paper may be used by academics as candidate cases for standards battles for the home energy management system and may form a point of departure for commercial stakeholders such as firms.

The interconnected nature of the different components of smart grids is a prime example of complexity in technological systems. Developing such systems is highly dependent on the wishes and needs of end-users and other stakeholders. We argue that stakeholder values should be taken into consideration during the design and standardisation of complex infrastructures, and illustrate this with a case of smart meters and home energy management systems. We base our argument on the literature in the technology management fields, particularly those strands related to standardisation. We conduct a case study of the acceptance of smart meters (standards) in the Netherlands, based on stakeholder interviews. We use q-methodology to analyse the most salient values in this case. The Dutch smart meter case arguably demonstrates that a lack of consideration for stakeholder values led to the postponed roll-out of smart meters in the Netherlands. By not addressing privacy issues, economic advantages, ...

The fossil-based energy system is transitioning towards a renewable energy system. One important aspect is the spatial and temporal mismatch between intermitted supply and continuous demand. To ensure a reliable and affordable energy system, we propose an integrated system approach that integrates electricity production, mobility, heating of buildings and water management with a major role for storage and conversion. The minimization of energy transport in such an integrated system indicates the need for local optimization. This study focuses on a comparison between different novel system designs for neighborhood energy and water systems with varying modes of system integration, including all-electric, power-to-heat and power-to-hydrogen. A simulation model is developed to determine the energy and water balance and carry out economic analysis to calculate the system costs of various scenarios. We show that system costs are the lowest in a scenario that combines a hydrogen boiler and...

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Microscopy (NMRM) images were obtained of a cell of sintered silica (with original grain diameters of 250 to 500 μm) that was initially flooded with water and subsequently with both water and oil. The first acquisition was non-selective and revealed the combined spatial distribution of the water and oil phases. Two subsequent acquisitions, at identical locations, imaged

ABSTRACT There are several initiatives worldwide to deploy SMs (SM). SM systems offer services aimed at achieving many goals beyond metering electricity consumption of households. Despite the advantages gained by SMs, there are serious issues that may lead to the system's inability to reach its goals. One obstacle, which can lead to social rejection of SMs, is perceived security and privacy violations of consumers' information. This poses a significant threat to a successful rollout and operation of the system as consumers represent a cornerstone in the fulfillment of goals such as energy efficiency and savings, by their active interaction with SMs. To investigate consumers' perception of SMs, theories and models from the technology acceptance literature can be used for understanding consumers' behaviors, and exploring possible factors that can have a significant impact on consumers' acceptance and usage of a SM. In this paper, a hybrid and extended model of a two well-known technology acceptance theories is presented. These theories are: the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Usage of Technology- UTAUT, and Innovation Diffusion Theory- IDT. The hybrid model is further extended with acceptance determinants derived from the Smart metering case in the Dutch context. The model aims to investigate determinants that can shed light on consumers' perception and acceptance of SM.