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Smart homes
"ESRU co-ordinated an EC funded project called SmartHomes, which commenced in 2001 as part of the EU EESD-Energy Programme (1998-2002), with the primary objective of defining such new energy services and testing them within field trials. Project partners are located in Sweden, Greece, the Czech Republic and the UK. The aim was to prototype and test energy services for citizens and professionals and test cable and wireless approaches to internet connection. The implementations have been based on Ericsson's residential gateway, or `e-box', technology as described above. E-boxes, which are essentially small computers with a Linux operating system, were placed in homes and connected to the Internet and to local sensors/actuators. Sensor data was transferred via the e-box to a service centre from where they are accessed for further processing by designated energy service providers before onward transmission to users. These users, for example utilities, citizens, local authority energy managers and health care providers, then access the information through standard Web browsers, and depending on the particular energy service, may transmit information or control instructions back to the originating homes. The project partners implemented a number of pilot services in their respective countries, focusing on the areas of health and safety, improved energy efficiency, utility load management and consumption metering, large scale energy management and citizen participation. Industrial partners have undertaken market studies and economic evaluations of technology deployment.Example e-services include:
? real-time monitoring of homes to enable better care for the elderly and other vulnerable groups;
? management of electrical loads as a mechanism to improved the efficiency of supply;
? attainment of a better match between local demands and renewable energy supplies as a means to reinforce power quality of supply in areas where the electricity supply network is fragile;
? development of partnerships between local authority, utilities and telecommunications companies as an apt response to the challenges of an integrated energy market;
? construction of city-scale databases for use in local authority and utility service planning; and
? development of procedures for prioritising home improvements based on detailed consumption data.
To demonstrate the above, the project carried out state-of-the-art and market surveys, developed a prototype system and ran full scale field trials in 4 locations:бн"
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http://www.esru.strath.ac.uk/research.htm