Long Term Energy Savings Through User Behavior Modeling in Smart Homes

Abstract

The Internet of Things (IoT) has enabled real-time monitoring of energy consumption in smart homes through sensors embedded in the surrounding environment. In the post-pandemic world, domestic energy management has gained importance due to increased work-from-home consumption, making data collection in a smart home a relevant IoT application with many potential energy savings. However, this information is difficult for most users to understand, and existing monitoring systems' savings results degrade over time. To address these challenges, this study presents a novel approach for domestic energy consumption, production, and comfort perception using color-based dashboards enhanced for user feedback interaction. The approach includes the management of in-home appliances and comfort levels according to user preferences to attain long-term energy savings. The approach includes multiple appealing strategies such as 3D representation, mobile connectivity, utility integration, and dynamic information, to increase long-term engagement and provides quantitative data on energy savings achieved for one year, where the average energy consumption was reduced by 19%. It was found that the approach sustained user engagement over time, with users actively participating in energy conservation efforts. A community survey with 208 participants was also developed and studied where 69% of the enquired considered our approach more attractive than existing market solutions, and 79% considered it more useful than existing solutions. Regarding the real-time information presented on our approach, 81% of the participants strongly or totally agree that it can change users' behaviors.INDEX TERMS IoT, home energy consumption, long-term engagement, user behavior, sustainability.

Automatic Laboratory Lighting System With an Infrared Base

“…Binghui Han et al's paper, et al [2], "Home Energy Management Systems: A Review of the Concept, Architecture, and Scheduling Strategies," examines Home Energy Management Systems (HEMS). HEMS are systems designed to improve energy use in residential buildings.…”

Energy Conservation at Home: A Critical Review on the Role of End-User Behavior

“…Home energy management systems (HEMSs) have been extensively discussed in the literature, as well as the potential of utility apps and feedback in energy bills to enable or activate users' conservation practices [66,[82][83][84][85]. However, up to date, most of the experts in the field agree that effective feedback from such devices is essential not only to activate one-shot changes but especially to engage users in the long run [31,61,[86][87][88][89][90][91][92][93][94][95][96][97][98][99]. To this end, gamification is frequently mentioned as an effective means for the use of smart meters and other energy consumption feedback supports [100][101][102][103].…”

“…Regarding COVID-19, several authors have investigated how various occupancy patterns and the economic crisis brought on by the pandemic have either temporarily or permanently changed energy use at home [96,[145][146][147], which was typically increased during the lockdown and reduced in the recovery phase to cope with resource shortages of low-income families.…”