E2Home: Web-based Application for Home Energy Efficiency Using Contextual Information from Smart Meters and Smartphones

In recent years a significant amount of research has focused on problems related to electricity distribution and consumption in the nation. Although the efficiency and robustness of the electricity distribution network can be improved by deploying a smart grid infrastructure, the end users and their consumption behavior continue to play an important role in the overall performance of such a grid, in particular their impact on the peak usage. At the same time, due to rising retail energy prices and growing concerns about the environment, end users have become more interested into technological solutions that can help them reduce electricity consumption.

In this project, we are developing Energy-Efficient Home (E2Home), a Web-based/mobile application built on top of our FuseViz technology that intelligently helps customers lower their electricity consumption. The application leverages existing data sources, such as sensors, smart meters, and smartphones, to collect data not only about electricity consumption, but also the context in which this occurred (e.g., user location, activity), and then transform them into actionable information for the user by means of a MapReduce-based data fusion and visualization on interactive Web-based charts and maps. Unlike existing applications that present a one-dimensional view of the smart meter data, E2Home offers personalized actionable information in the form of simple targeted actions that users can take to reduce their electricity consumption. This project is supported by the National Science Foundation I-Corps grant IIP-1242521.

Faculty

Entrepreneurial Lead

  • Dr. Giacomo Ghidini

Student

  • Mayank Raj

Collaborator

  • Dr. Kalyan Basu

Publications

Journals

  • Giacomo Ghidini, Sajal K. Das, Energy-efficient markov chain-based duty cycling schemes for greener wireless sensor networks, J. Emerg. Technol. Comput. Syst., Volume 8, Issue 4, Pages 29:1-29:32, November 2012 (link)

Conferences

  • Giacomo Ghidini, Sajal K. Das, and Vipul Gupta, FuseViz: A Framework for Web-based Data Fusion and Visualization in Smart Environments, Proceedings of IEEE Conference on Mobile Adhoc and Sensor Systems (MASS), Las Vegas, Nevada, October 2012 (link)
  • Giacomo Ghidini, Sajal K. Das, Improving Home Energy Efficiency with E2Home: A Web-based Application for Integrated Electricity Consumption and Contextual Information Visualization, Proceedings of the 3rd IEEE International Conference on Smart Grid Communications (IEEE SmartGridComm), Symposium on Smart Grid Standards, Testbeds and Field Trials, Nov 5-8, 2012 (Best Paper Award) (link)

Ph.D Dissertations

  • Giacomo Ghidini, "Energy-Efficient Protocols and Systems for Wireless Sensor Networks and Smart Environments", Comp. Sc. & Engg. Dept., Univ. of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas, 2012