The energy conservation and indoor environment improvement effect in a home with an environment visualization and management system

Abstract

In recent years, HEMS (home energy management systems) have received attention as energy conservation measures, and are being adopted increasingly in smart houses. The Home Environment Visualization and Management System was developed by the author's laboratory. The purposes of this system are to raise residents' interest in the indoor thermal environment, encourage the use of passive control methods, and promote awareness of health, safety, and energy-saving in the home. In our proposed system, a dedicated website for each home, an LED indicator that shows indoor and outdoor temperature by color level, a real-time advice display function, and a weekly environmental report were prepared. In the weekly report, a comparison graph of power consumption with other homes was shown. In this study, a verification of the effects of this system, intended for about twenty subject homes, was conducted. The main results of the system operation are as follows: 1) The number of times the website was viewed increased during the summer and winter, though the browsing logs differed greatly among residences. This demonstrates that it is important to provide easy-to-use information to promote browsing. 2) In the log indicating reactions to the real-time advice, a positive reaction of at least 80% was confirmed. This indicates that providing advice in real time is effective in encouraging environmental adjustment behaviors. 3) From the answers to a questionnaire about the weekly environmental report, an energy-saving effect was obtained as power consumption increased. This shows that offering comparisons with other homeowners is effective in encouraging energy conservation. From these results, it was confirmed that the website, the LED indicator, and the real-time advice were useful for promoting environmental adjustment behavior. In addition, it was confirmed that the weekly environmental report was useful for promoting energy-saving behavior.