UK Government policy sets out ambitious aims to decarbonise the energy system. This requires fund... more UK Government policy sets out ambitious aims to decarbonise the energy system. This requires fundamental changes to the existing energy infrastructure and electricity from low carbon sources is expected to play a major role in this transition. Electricity storage is widely believed to be able to support the integration of low carbon technologies. So far, the installation of wind power in the UK has not led to any significant deployment of additional storage capacity. Investors still regard electricity storage as too expensive. As more low carbon technologies are deployed, the need for storage may increase. How do these developments affect the role for electricity storage in future UK energy systems? This thesis addresses this question by combining technical, economic and social approaches. A techno-economic model has been developed to examine the commercial opportunities for electricity storage in future scenarios. A socio-technical perspective of technological transition complement...
Grid-scale electricity storage will play a crucial role in the transition of power systems toward... more Grid-scale electricity storage will play a crucial role in the transition of power systems towards zero carbon. During the transition, investments need to be channeled towards technologies and locations that enable zero carbon operation in the long term, while also delivering security of supply and value for money. We discuss metrics and market signals that are needed to guide this transition towards clean, secure and affordable solutions. Paradoxically, carbon metrics play an important role, but become less effective as a decision tool once the system approaches zero carbon. We critically assess the role of marginal and average emission and question the allocation of marginal emissions in systems where combinations of renewables and storage deliver flexibility. We conclude that, for strategic investments, short-term market signals may not always deliver sufficiently fast or far-sighted outcomes and operational decisions need to consider the merit order of demand as well as supply.
High expectations rest on demand side response to aid the reliability of future electricity syste... more High expectations rest on demand side response to aid the reliability of future electricity systems and to reduce costs. The extent of the potential contribution depends among other things on what that demand is used for. Some uses could be more flexible than others. Some may respond to price signals, others may require different forms of incentive or changes to material or social contexts. Our understanding of the temporal relationship between the activities and the resulting electricity patterns is still in its infancy. This paper presents a novel research tool to combine electricity data collection with activity information at the household level. We critically review established methods to time-use collection and propose a range of innovations to improve their suitability for energy related research with the aim to establish ‘what people use electricity for’. Innovations include: 1) A six-way decision tree allows to discriminate 714 in-home activities with fewer than five screen...
Demand-side flexibility has been suggested as a tool for peak demand reduction and large-scale in... more Demand-side flexibility has been suggested as a tool for peak demand reduction and large-scale integration of low-carbon electricity sources. Deeper insight into the activities and energy services performed in households could help to understand the scope and limitations of demand- side flexibility. Measuring and Evaluating Time- and Energy-use Relationships (METER) is a five-year, UK-based research project and the first study to collect activity data and electricity use in parallel at scale. We present statistical analyses of these new data, including more than 5,800 activities reported by 350 individuals in 138 households, and their relationship to electricity use patterns. We develop regression models of average electricity use over a day and of average use across four-hour time periods to compare intra-day variations. We find that dwelling and appliance variables can explain 46% of average electricity use over the full day. For the most critical period of peak demand from 5pm-9pm, these variables explain the least of variations in electricity usage. We find that adding even a relatively coarse categorization of activity data increases explanatory power in models for all times of day but does so the most for times of peak demand. We conclude that occupant activity data can advance our understanding of peak demand and inform approaches to shift or reduce it. We stress the importance of considering consumption as a function of time of day, and we use our findings to argue that a more nuanced understanding of this relationship can yield useful insights for residential demand flexibility.
Government and policy inevitably shape social practices. Both directly and indirectly, policy ins... more Government and policy inevitably shape social practices. Both directly and indirectly, policy instruments can produce, configure, disperse and kill-off practices. How policy makers understand the nature of energy consumption crucially informs the design of policy interventions. The physical, technical and economic model (PTEM) of energy demand dominates policy, with little regard for how social norms, service expectations and always-changing practices influence the role of energy in everyday life
Flexibility is emerging as an increasingly sought after property in electricity systems. After de... more Flexibility is emerging as an increasingly sought after property in electricity systems. After decades of fossil fuel based power generation, system operators are facing difficult times, if conventional plants are increasingly displaced by less controllable renewable sources of electricity. Alongside calls for enhanced networks and storage, the demand side is expected to become flexible for the benefit of the system. The value of the technical potential is said to be as high as £5 billion per year. This paper systematically reviews flexibility as a dynamic property on supply and demand side. In doing so it attempts to shift the perspective from ‘what flexibility is for’ to ‘where flexibility comes from’. Eight mechanisms of demand side flexibility are identified and illustrated with a range of examples highlighting the origins and costs associated with providing them. Parallels and differences with supply side flexibility are exposed and discussed. This approach leads to the conclus...
Abstract Electricity use patterns can be thought of as the result of societal activity patterns. ... more Abstract Electricity use patterns can be thought of as the result of societal activity patterns. Understanding the relationship between activities and their electricity footprint can therefore help to develop more effective means to engage energy users and to reshape their demand. In this chapter, we present a new type of data collection, which expands the focus from mere electricity use patterns to the inclusion of the activities underlying them. Reported enjoyment of activities can give insights into strategies to reshape demand. Nearly 16,000 activities from 576 people have been analysed for their associated electricity consumption. We present electricity use for the most common activities and how these differ at times of system peak demand. Meal times and laundry emerge as significant activity patterns, but with very different levels of enjoyment. Among the most enjoyable, yet least-energy-intensive activities are reading, sleeping, and socialising.
Abstract Women are widely believed to be responsible for much of household electricity consumptio... more Abstract Women are widely believed to be responsible for much of household electricity consumption. Gendered working patterns and division of household chores are persistent in Western societies, with women performing many of the activities associated with electricity demand, such as cooking and laundering. This has led to the assumption that women use more electricity than men and that they should be specifically targeted in programmes on load reduction or demand response. This paper presents data on household electricity use patters which challenge these assumptions. Activity diaries with simultaneous electricity recordings show women do indeed report more household chores, but the electricity consumption observed during their performance is lower than for men in many cases. We show how men and women differ in the performance of activities and how the combination of activities can explain some of the differences in their electricity intensity. The timing of activities also differs between genders, with women less likely to use washing machines during peak demand periods.
The ability to collect fine-grained energy data from smart meters has benefits for utilities and ... more The ability to collect fine-grained energy data from smart meters has benefits for utilities and consumers. However, a proactive approach to data privacy is necessary to maximize the potential of these data to support low-carbon energy systems and innovative business models.
Abstract It is an intuitive assumption that some activities require more energy than others. Bott... more Abstract It is an intuitive assumption that some activities require more energy than others. Bottom-up energy demand models therefore use time-use data to inform the timing of energy use. In this paper we present some empirical evidence to test the strength of this assumption. Using data that simultaneously captures household activities and their coinciding electricity consumption, it is possible to relate one to the other. We validate the temporal accuracy of the approach with the example of reporting hot drinks and the distinct signature of kettle usage. Despite good data accuracy, the predictive power of reported activities for electricity use is modest. At time when activities that would subjectively be associated with high energy consumption are reported, electricity use is only about 7% higher than at times with activities of low energy association. For single occupant households the link is stronger with more than 30% difference between the two activity categories. We conclude that demand models may need to take account of diversity and complexity in multi-occupant households and that more sophisticated regression techniques may be required to improve demand predictions based on time-use data.
UK Government policy sets out ambitious aims to decarbonise the energy system. This requires fund... more UK Government policy sets out ambitious aims to decarbonise the energy system. This requires fundamental changes to the existing energy infrastructure and electricity from low carbon sources is expected to play a major role in this transition. Electricity storage is widely believed to be able to support the integration of low carbon technologies. So far, the installation of wind power in the UK has not led to any significant deployment of additional storage capacity. Investors still regard electricity storage as too expensive. As more low carbon technologies are deployed, the need for storage may increase. How do these developments affect the role for electricity storage in future UK energy systems? This thesis addresses this question by combining technical, economic and social approaches. A techno-economic model has been developed to examine the commercial opportunities for electricity storage in future scenarios. A socio-technical perspective of technological transition complement...
Grid-scale electricity storage will play a crucial role in the transition of power systems toward... more Grid-scale electricity storage will play a crucial role in the transition of power systems towards zero carbon. During the transition, investments need to be channeled towards technologies and locations that enable zero carbon operation in the long term, while also delivering security of supply and value for money. We discuss metrics and market signals that are needed to guide this transition towards clean, secure and affordable solutions. Paradoxically, carbon metrics play an important role, but become less effective as a decision tool once the system approaches zero carbon. We critically assess the role of marginal and average emission and question the allocation of marginal emissions in systems where combinations of renewables and storage deliver flexibility. We conclude that, for strategic investments, short-term market signals may not always deliver sufficiently fast or far-sighted outcomes and operational decisions need to consider the merit order of demand as well as supply.
High expectations rest on demand side response to aid the reliability of future electricity syste... more High expectations rest on demand side response to aid the reliability of future electricity systems and to reduce costs. The extent of the potential contribution depends among other things on what that demand is used for. Some uses could be more flexible than others. Some may respond to price signals, others may require different forms of incentive or changes to material or social contexts. Our understanding of the temporal relationship between the activities and the resulting electricity patterns is still in its infancy. This paper presents a novel research tool to combine electricity data collection with activity information at the household level. We critically review established methods to time-use collection and propose a range of innovations to improve their suitability for energy related research with the aim to establish ‘what people use electricity for’. Innovations include: 1) A six-way decision tree allows to discriminate 714 in-home activities with fewer than five screen...
Demand-side flexibility has been suggested as a tool for peak demand reduction and large-scale in... more Demand-side flexibility has been suggested as a tool for peak demand reduction and large-scale integration of low-carbon electricity sources. Deeper insight into the activities and energy services performed in households could help to understand the scope and limitations of demand- side flexibility. Measuring and Evaluating Time- and Energy-use Relationships (METER) is a five-year, UK-based research project and the first study to collect activity data and electricity use in parallel at scale. We present statistical analyses of these new data, including more than 5,800 activities reported by 350 individuals in 138 households, and their relationship to electricity use patterns. We develop regression models of average electricity use over a day and of average use across four-hour time periods to compare intra-day variations. We find that dwelling and appliance variables can explain 46% of average electricity use over the full day. For the most critical period of peak demand from 5pm-9pm, these variables explain the least of variations in electricity usage. We find that adding even a relatively coarse categorization of activity data increases explanatory power in models for all times of day but does so the most for times of peak demand. We conclude that occupant activity data can advance our understanding of peak demand and inform approaches to shift or reduce it. We stress the importance of considering consumption as a function of time of day, and we use our findings to argue that a more nuanced understanding of this relationship can yield useful insights for residential demand flexibility.
Government and policy inevitably shape social practices. Both directly and indirectly, policy ins... more Government and policy inevitably shape social practices. Both directly and indirectly, policy instruments can produce, configure, disperse and kill-off practices. How policy makers understand the nature of energy consumption crucially informs the design of policy interventions. The physical, technical and economic model (PTEM) of energy demand dominates policy, with little regard for how social norms, service expectations and always-changing practices influence the role of energy in everyday life
Flexibility is emerging as an increasingly sought after property in electricity systems. After de... more Flexibility is emerging as an increasingly sought after property in electricity systems. After decades of fossil fuel based power generation, system operators are facing difficult times, if conventional plants are increasingly displaced by less controllable renewable sources of electricity. Alongside calls for enhanced networks and storage, the demand side is expected to become flexible for the benefit of the system. The value of the technical potential is said to be as high as £5 billion per year. This paper systematically reviews flexibility as a dynamic property on supply and demand side. In doing so it attempts to shift the perspective from ‘what flexibility is for’ to ‘where flexibility comes from’. Eight mechanisms of demand side flexibility are identified and illustrated with a range of examples highlighting the origins and costs associated with providing them. Parallels and differences with supply side flexibility are exposed and discussed. This approach leads to the conclus...
Abstract Electricity use patterns can be thought of as the result of societal activity patterns. ... more Abstract Electricity use patterns can be thought of as the result of societal activity patterns. Understanding the relationship between activities and their electricity footprint can therefore help to develop more effective means to engage energy users and to reshape their demand. In this chapter, we present a new type of data collection, which expands the focus from mere electricity use patterns to the inclusion of the activities underlying them. Reported enjoyment of activities can give insights into strategies to reshape demand. Nearly 16,000 activities from 576 people have been analysed for their associated electricity consumption. We present electricity use for the most common activities and how these differ at times of system peak demand. Meal times and laundry emerge as significant activity patterns, but with very different levels of enjoyment. Among the most enjoyable, yet least-energy-intensive activities are reading, sleeping, and socialising.
Abstract Women are widely believed to be responsible for much of household electricity consumptio... more Abstract Women are widely believed to be responsible for much of household electricity consumption. Gendered working patterns and division of household chores are persistent in Western societies, with women performing many of the activities associated with electricity demand, such as cooking and laundering. This has led to the assumption that women use more electricity than men and that they should be specifically targeted in programmes on load reduction or demand response. This paper presents data on household electricity use patters which challenge these assumptions. Activity diaries with simultaneous electricity recordings show women do indeed report more household chores, but the electricity consumption observed during their performance is lower than for men in many cases. We show how men and women differ in the performance of activities and how the combination of activities can explain some of the differences in their electricity intensity. The timing of activities also differs between genders, with women less likely to use washing machines during peak demand periods.
The ability to collect fine-grained energy data from smart meters has benefits for utilities and ... more The ability to collect fine-grained energy data from smart meters has benefits for utilities and consumers. However, a proactive approach to data privacy is necessary to maximize the potential of these data to support low-carbon energy systems and innovative business models.
Abstract It is an intuitive assumption that some activities require more energy than others. Bott... more Abstract It is an intuitive assumption that some activities require more energy than others. Bottom-up energy demand models therefore use time-use data to inform the timing of energy use. In this paper we present some empirical evidence to test the strength of this assumption. Using data that simultaneously captures household activities and their coinciding electricity consumption, it is possible to relate one to the other. We validate the temporal accuracy of the approach with the example of reporting hot drinks and the distinct signature of kettle usage. Despite good data accuracy, the predictive power of reported activities for electricity use is modest. At time when activities that would subjectively be associated with high energy consumption are reported, electricity use is only about 7% higher than at times with activities of low energy association. For single occupant households the link is stronger with more than 30% difference between the two activity categories. We conclude that demand models may need to take account of diversity and complexity in multi-occupant households and that more sophisticated regression techniques may be required to improve demand predictions based on time-use data.
The speakers include Philipp Gruenewald of Imperial College and Jonathan Radcliffe from the Energ... more The speakers include Philipp Gruenewald of Imperial College and Jonathan Radcliffe from the Energy Research Partnership. Firstly, Philipp will start the webinar by covering the technological developments in the field and future developments from a technical perspective. Then Jonathan will cover innovation aspects and funding opportunities in light of the recent DECC announcements.
This show focuses on the ‘battery’, to suggest how the storage of energy has redefined man’s plac... more This show focuses on the ‘battery’, to suggest how the storage of energy has redefined man’s place in the natural world. Since its invention in 1800 by Alessandro Volta, the battery has been viewed as a container for an inexplicable charge. Following amateur scientists, such as Giovanni Aldini, who applied a current from a powerfully charged Leyden jar to dead bodies from the local morgue, to marvel at a stray leg that would fling in the air, the battery has served as a powerful elixir of life. This experiment (the model for Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein), raised the question: is death a permanent state or can the dead be reanimated?
Today we utilise this ambiguity, surrounded by the corpses of technology, which may or may not with the aid of the battery return to life. The content of the battery thus exceeds and spills out from the container, existing to give something else power. The battery, as we know it, is not therefore only of the AA variety, but any seemingly inanimate object that has the capacity to release some contained potential. From an energy bar to a can of coke and the human body, we rely on energy storage to exist with mobility in our world as opposed to ‘plugged into the wall’.
With the aid of energy storage man has been able to reach the limits of human life; to outer space and the depths of the ocean. Without it, the technological revolution would not have occurred. As sugar batteries, vodka-gin batteries and urine batteries begin to be developed what becomes clear is that it is the battery that we must rely on, once again, to redefine the future.
MSc Environmental Change and Management thesis, 2018
Within the context of increasing datafication of domestic energy demand, this study conducts a us... more Within the context of increasing datafication of domestic energy demand, this study conducts a user-centric exploration of the information privacy implications arising within the context of location-sensitive smart homes, with an exclusive focus on location data. By surveying a representative UK sample (n=701), including smart home users and non-users, the studies’ quantitative approach uncovers new information privacy findings relevant for the future design of- and policy frameworks for smart homes. The findings indicate that data subjects’ information privacy concerns are significant, yet simultaneously highly fluid depending on contextual and individual factors. However, data subjects’ capabilities to control their location data flows accordingly have thus far been inadequate, and their awareness of their data flows is low. So as to assure the continuous preservation of the right to information privacy, policy recommendations that expand upon the recently introduced GDPR are suggested for the future design and deployment of smart homes.
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Papers by Phil Grünewald
Today we utilise this ambiguity, surrounded by the corpses of technology, which may or may not with the aid of the battery return to life. The content of the battery thus exceeds and spills out from the container, existing to give something else power. The battery, as we know it, is not therefore only of the AA variety, but any seemingly inanimate object that has the capacity to release some contained potential. From an energy bar to a can of coke and the human body, we rely on energy storage to exist with mobility in our world as opposed to ‘plugged into the wall’.
With the aid of energy storage man has been able to reach the limits of human life; to outer space and the depths of the ocean. Without it, the technological revolution would not have occurred. As sugar batteries, vodka-gin batteries and urine batteries begin to be developed what becomes clear is that it is the battery that we must rely on, once again, to redefine the future.
http://www.distributed-energy.de/?p=245
Featuring: Professor Steven Connor, Dr Jon Agar, Dr Richard Barnett and Philipp Gruenewald.