Smart buildings that can manage our electricity needs

Researchers at EPFL have developed a system that can be installed in a building to collect data on people's energy usage. The aim is then to send this data directly to a smart electric grid that will allocate resources optimally. A smart grid that decides how best to distribute energy based on availability, cost and customers' needs - that's the energy concept being developed by researchers in the School of Engineering's Electronics Laboratory. They have designed a system capable of collecting data on people's energy usage and comfort within buildings. By gathering data sent from connected devices - like smartphones and the sensors in electronic appliances - the system can obtain an overall picture of a building's electricity needs over time and by room. This data can then be passed on to a smart grid in order to anticipate energy needs and decide how best to allocate available resources. From individual devices to an all-encompassing smart building Buildings already have systems that can collect data from certain devices. There are, for example, systems to turn lights on automatically when you enter a room, to lower the heating when you leave your apartment or to start your washing or coffee machine remotely from your smartphone. But these interfaces all work separately to enhance the user's comfort or save energy in different ways. They can't be used to gain any precise, overarching insight into the electricity needs of an entire building or to optimize resource allocation. And these devices have totally unrelated applications, with one perhaps being used to increase safety while another may control heating, for example. The interface developed by the researchers will be able to combine all these data and thus cover various energy needs. The researchers' A generic program that can communicate with any connected device