Role of context-awareness for demand response mechanisms

Abstract

Recently due to major changes in the structure of electricity industry and the rising costs of power generation, many countries have realized the potential and benefits of smart metering systems and demand response programs in balancing between the supply and the demand. DR mechanisms are capable of controlling the user energy consumption according to load conditions and providing effective energy management. However, they are typically performed regardless of user's situation and current activities. Factoring in the user's contextual information which is relevant to their current or future energy consumption can significantly increase the effectiveness of DR programs and enable adaptive and personalized execution of DR control actions. In this paper, we review current DR techniques and discuss the state-of-the-art smart energy management approaches that take into account contextual information. An overview of context reasoning and learning techniques for smart homes are presented to demonstrate how knowledge of user activities can be utilized in context-aware DR mechanisms. Our aim is to provide a better understanding of DR programs and highlight the importance of the context-awareness in improving smart energy management. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.