Energy Management System Based on a Gamified Application for Households

Abstract

Nowadays, the growth in the consumption of energy and the need to face pollution resulting from its generation are causing concern for consumers and providers. Energy consumption in residential buildings and houses is about 22% of total energy production. Cutting-edge energy managers aim to optimize electrical devices in homes, taking into account users’ patterns, goals, and needs, by creating energy consumption awareness and helping current change habits. In this way, energy manager systems (EMSs) monitor and manage electrical appliances, automate and schedule actions, and make suggestions regarding electrical consumption. Furthermore, gamification strategies may change energy consumption patterns through energy managers, which are seen as an option to save energy and money. Therefore, this paper proposes a personalized gamification strategy for an EMS through an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) decision-making engine to classify the level of electrical consumption and persuade the end-user to reduce and modify consumption patterns, saving energy and money with gamified motivations. These strategies have proven to be effective in changing consumer behavior with intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. The interfaces consider three cases for summer and winter periods to calculate the saving-energy potentials: (1) for a type of user that is interested in home-improvement efforts while helping to save energy; (2) for a type of user that is advocating to save energy; (3) for a type of user that is not interested in saving energy. Hence, each interface considers the end-user’s current consumption and the possibility to modify their consumption habits using their current electrical devices. Finally, an interface displaying the electrical consumption for each case exemplifies its linkage with EMSs.

Smart Homes as Enablers for Depression Pre-Diagnosis Using PHQ-9 on HMI through Fuzzy Logic Decision System

“…In [ 21 ], some of the authors of this research proposed SH gamified HMIs for energy reductions. Hence, based on the premise of considering socially connected products at SHs such as connected thermostats, smart refrigerators, smart lightings, or smart TVs [ 9 , 38 ], a novel interface was proposed to take advantage of this type of HMIs to survey the householders the nine questions from the PHQ-9. Hence, the householders would not feel obligated to answer, and they could answer the survey if they want to, or even request Alexa to ask the questions instead of reading them.…”

“…A Smart Home (SH) monitors and manages home electronics and appliances through an Internet connection [ 33 ]. These devices or social products include thermostats, cameras, voice assistants, lights, doorbells, household appliances [ 9 , 20 , 34 , 35 ], and provide homeowners information on how much energy they have used on certain equipment or systems [ 11 ]. Moreover, an SH collects and analyzes data about the home environment, communicates that data to users and service providers, and improves the ability to manage various domestic systems through social products [ 12 ].…”

“…However, a fifth type of home should be added, the Gamified SH. This type of home uses socially connected products [ 20 , 21 , 35 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 ] that profile end-users based on their personality traits, type of gamified user, and energy user [ 9 , 34 , 44 , 45 ] to propose tailored interfaces that help them understand the benefits of becoming pro-environmental or energy-aware. Figure 1 depicts an example of this type of home.…”

“…Smartphones or wearables, like smartwatches, are often used by single individuals as an extension of their life; they are devices that can help detect and monitor depressive symptoms [ 5 , 7 , 8 ]. On the other hand, smart homes have been arising due to the Internet of Things; for instance, modern household appliances have increased the comfort level of householders [ 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 ]. Chatbots are used to track mood and help users deal with depression [ 13 , 14 ]; thus, voice assistants as Siri or Alexa have become appealing for individuals.…”

Energy Recovery in Air Conditioning Systems: Comprehensive Review, Classifications, Critical Analysis, and Potential Recommendations

“…The high-energy consumption of HVAC contributes to Energy Management System (EMS) becoming a fundamental issue for improving efficiency and providing significant energy savings in construction, particularly in relation to hospitals due to their utility for removing contaminated air [19]. Nowadays, EMS has become a primary concern in building projects, with many types of research completed on the BEMS (Building Energy Management System) over the last decade [20]. In addition, statistical results indicate that the effect of savings of BEMS raises from 11.39% to 16.22% yearly.…”