Energy efficiency in smart homes based on demand side management

Abstract: As when electricity was introduced at the turn of the 19th century, the smart home will take time to become the mainstream standard. Future smart homes will be outfitted with innovative advances for user comfort and entertainment. Intelligent systems will be accessible to guarantee this comfort and dependability. This technological development implies better energy management. Therefore, the smart home is a necessary part of future energy management and control. Residential energy efficiency is of concern at present and will remain so in the future. It is therefore crucial to determine ways to optimize homes and users’ conduct in terms of conservation of energy. Domestic use represents a large amount of this total electricity demand, as a typical home energy system utilises a basic form of energy efficiency and management. Homeowners constantly speak of environmental awareness, yet they still accept having to pay for their monthly energy expenditure, therefore adjusting their attitudes to energy saving will always be a challenge. A reduction in residential energy usage and improved energy efficiency of households will require smarter systems to monitor household electricity consumption constantly and provide real-time updates to the user. In this dissertation, the researcher investigates and discusses demand side management (DSM), demand response (DR) and artificial intelligence (AI) techniques in order to manage and minimize the daily electricity expenditure and improve the energy efficiency of future smart homes and concludes by comparing these results. Results showed pros and cons for each technique, but essentially, they led to the successful management and minimisation of daily electricity expenditure and improved the energy efficiency of domestic households. It can be concluded that by employing new and innovative techniques for delivering, conveying and overseeing energy usage in an effective way, a new way of thinking can be introduced in this era. Clearly, there are numerous open research issues in this area of research. To further justify the work done in this area of research, conference papers were presented and published; these are referenced within this dissertation.M.Tech. (Electrical Engineering