1,720,999 research outputs found
Prosumer behaviour in emerging electricity systems
Full text linkThis dissertation investigates the interface between technology and society in the emerging electricity systems and in particular the role of the energy prosumer in the energy transition. It contributes to the understanding of the role of consumers in emerging electricity systems within the current EU energy policy context where consumer active participation is regarded as "a prerequisite for managing the energy transition successfully and in a cost-effective way". Emerging energy systems are characterized by a high level of complexity, especially for what concerns the behaviour of social actors. Social actors interact through physical and social networks by sharing information and learning from one another through social interactions. These interactions determine self-organization and emergent behaviours in energy consumption patterns and practices. I argue that the best suited tool to study emergent behaviours in energy consumption patterns and practices, and to investigate how consumers' preferences and choices lead to macro behaviours is agent based modelling. To build a sound characterization of the energy prosumer, I review the current social psychology and behavioural theories on sustainable consumption and collect evidence from EU energy prosumers surveys, studies and demand side management pilot projects. I employ these findings to inform the development of an agent based model of the electricity prosumer, Subjective Individual Model of Prosumer - SIMP, and its extended version, SIMP-N, that includes the modelling of the social network. I apply SIMP and SIMP-N models to study the emergence in consumer systems and how values and beliefs at consumer level (as defined by social psychology and behavioural theories and informed by empirical evidence) and social dynamics lead to macro behaviours. More specifically, I explore the diffusion of smart grid technologies enabled services among a population of interacting prosumers and evaluate the impact of such diffusion on individual and societal performance indicators under different policy scenarios and contextual factors. The analysis of the simulation results provides interesting insights on how different psychological characteristics, social dynamics and technological elements can strongly influence consumers' choices and overall system performance. I conclude proposing a framework for an integrated approach to modelling emerging energy systems and markets that extend the SIMP model to also include markets, distribution system operator and the electricity network
The social dimension of Smart Grids: Consumer, community, society
No full textGrowing concerns over climate change, security of power supply and market competitiveness are challenging the current power system operation and architecture, with the resulting need to integrate increasing shares of renewable and dispersed energy resources. The era of renewable energy, decentralized energy sources and smart grid technologies will empower all prosumers, from households to small and medium sized enterprises, as well as larger companies, to integrate their consumption and production of energy in networks that would function more like ecosystems than markets. The modernization of the grid, with power and data flowing in both directions, to and from the prosumers, will demand and enable new market structures, new services, and new social processes. As a consequence, the most important challenge for policy makers over the next decade will likely be the shift away from a supply-driven perspective, to one that recognizes the need for the integration of the different dimensions and actors of the energy systems. In this context, the aim of the present report is to shed light on the different components of the social dimensions of the smart grids, from the perspective of the consumer, community and society at large, and to highlight and discuss the main challenges that surround it.JRC.F.3 - Energy securit
Enabling consumer engagement in the future electricity networks
No full textToday's electricity system is facing the challenge to respond to growing environmental concerns while assuring sustainable, secure and cost-effective power system operation. Although large scale integration of generation close to load appears as a promising solution to cope with these challenges, much effort is still needed in engaging consumers to take a bigger role in managing their power consumption. In this context, consumer engagement may play a key role in sustaining policy developments that entails an increased share of renewable energy sources in the electricity use together with a more efficient use of electricity energy. Sustainable energy consumption will require a shift towards a two way communication and power flow between consumers and power suppliers in order to optimize the use of renewable energy resources and at the same time to minimize the use of less efficient power generation and network infrastructure investments. In this context, the aim of the present paper is to provide an insight on current trends and development on consumer engagement strategies in smart grid projects in Europe. The paper presents some first results of a periodic survey on European smart grid projects that the Joint Research Centre carries out. One of the aims of the survey is to collect information on ongoing activities at European level on consumer engagement strategies in European smart grids projects. The analysis shows an increase in the interest in consumer engagement in European projects in particular in the residential sector, with ongoing projects being mainly at R&D or demonstration level. Distribution System Operators (DSOs), challenged by the need to integrate increasing shares of renewable and distributed energy sources while ensuring security of system supply, are inherently interested in enhancing flexibility through energy efficiency and dynamic pricing so as to enable consumers responsiveness. Indeed, the survey shows that DSOs have started developing projects aimed at getting to know the consumers' preferences and behaviour and the impact of their choices on system's operators. DSOs, the results show, are acting as one of the key enablers for consumer's integration in the distribution network operation and planning. The paper also presents some results on the main motivational factors behind consumer engagement in smart grids project and finally discusses challenges and strategies in consumer engagement. One concrete example of a successful smart grids deployment program is presented and possibilities of projects scalability are discussed
Consumer engagement: An insight from smart grid projects in Europe
No full textThis paper provides an insight into consumer engagement in smart grid projects in Europe. Projects analysed are those included in the catalogue annexed in the JRC Report "Smart Grid projects in Europe: lessons learned and current developments". The analysis suggests an increase in the interest in consumer engagement projects at European level and a strong focus on the residential sector, and emphasises the key importance of public funding to support these projects. The study also reveals that projects involving consumers are characterised by the pursuit of two main objectives: gaining deeper knowledge of consumer behaviour (observing and understanding the consumer) and motivating and empowering consumers to become active energy customers (engaging the consumer). The paper reviews the main activities undertaken to obtain these objectives and highlights trends and developments in the field. Finally, the paper discusses obstacles to consumer engagement and the strategies adopted by the projects surveyed to tackle them, highlighting the need to build consumer trust and to design targeted campaigns taking into consideration different consumer segments. The conclusions are in line with findings and analyses presented in the literature and underscore the need for further research and action at European leve
Smart Grid projects in Europe:Lessons learned and current developments 2012 update
No full textSmart Grid projects play a key role in shedding some light on how to move forward in this challenging transition. To this end, in 2011, the JRC launched the first comprehensive inventory of Smart Gird projects in Europe to collect lessons learned and assess current developments on Smart Grids in Europe [JRC 2011].
The final catalogue was published in July 2011 and included 219 Smart Grid and smart metering projects from EU27 Member States (including 24 smart metering pilots and roll-outs). The overall investment amounted to € 5 billion.
The participation of project coordinators and the reception of the report by the Smart Grid community were extremely positive. For this reason, it has been decided to carry out the project inventory on a regular basis to constantly update the picture of Smart Grid developments in Europe and keep track of lessons learned, challenges and opportunities.
This study is the 2012 update of the inventory carried out in 2011.
A new on-line questionnaire was put on-line in March 2012 and projects were collected until September 2012. In parallel we have performed an extensive and scrupulous search of projects information through web research and cooperation links with European research organizations.
The resulting final database is the most updated and comprehensive inventory of Smart grid and smart metering projects in Europe for 2012: it includes 281 Smart Grid projects and around 90 smart metering pilots and roll-outs. Smart Grid and smart metering projects will be analysed separately.
The core of our analysis will focus on Smart Grid projects. Smart metering development will be analysed only at aggregated national and European level and information from individual smart metering projects will be used only to support the analysis with concrete field information .JRC.F.3 - Energy securit
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
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