Panagiota Karava, Jack and Kay Hockema Professor of Civil Engineering, examines data collected at Purdue’s ReNEWW home, a “net zero structure.” Karava received a grant to use smart devices to monitor energy use in Indiana homes. (Photo Purdue University/Erin Easterling) Download image
A research team from Purdue University recently received an additional $400,000 from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to continue their work on “Sociotechnical Systems to Enable Smart, Connected, Energy-Aware Residential Communities.” This price is based on an initial price of $3.5 million in 2018.
The project uses smart devices (wall tablets and Alexa, Amazon’s cloud-based voice service) and social games to engage residents in understanding and reducing their home energy use.
The most recent results from the project will be presented at 11 a.m. today (September 9) and available for online viewing during the Climate Leadership Summit. For more information, contact Robert Teas at [email protected].
The multidisciplinary team, led by Panagiota Karava, Professor of Civil Engineering Jack and Kay Hockema, includes professors in civil and mechanical engineering, political science, communications and psychological sciences. All are affiliated with Purdue’s recently established Purdue Institute for a Sustainable Future (ISF), which is dedicated to addressing global sustainability challenges in the areas of food, energy, climate and environment. Under the new ISF, the team’s efforts build on previous work done by the former Center for Environment and Climate Change Research.
The NSF project team made fundamental advances in physics-based machine learning and game-theoretic approaches to uncover how residential communities make decisions related to their home energy use. To do this, they developed a web-based application, MySmartEnergy (MySmartE), which was successfully deployed in 94 homes in collaboration with the Indiana Housing Community Development Authority and BWI, an Indianapolis-based company specializing in sustainable and affordable housing. . The team demonstrated energy and household cost savings of over 35% in participating households.
“This work is important because it uncovers new insights into how individuals, groups and residential communities make decisions related to their household energy use,” Karava said. “He is also developing smart new technology to transform this often irrational and information-poor process into an information-rich and coordinated energy management activity.
“NSF is funding this research because we have developed breakthrough socio-technical approaches, and the private sector is partnering with us because there is enormous potential to commercialize our new smart technology and have societal impact.”
With recent additional funding from NSF, Purdue’s research team will partner with BWI to expand the impact of their research and implement their software solution. The team will also work with industry partners through Purdue’s Center for High Performance Buildings to expand further, reaching 500 households and covering more diverse demographics, including affordable and market-priced housing, as well as residential communities that represent the US housing stock – both new construction and renovation.
Karava’s team members are Ilias Bilionis, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering; James Braun, Herrick Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Professor of Civil Engineering; Leigh Raymond, Professor of Political Science (College of Liberal Arts); Torsten Reimer, Professor of Communication and Psychological Sciences (College of Liberal Arts, College of Health and Human Sciences); Julia Rayz, professor of computer science and information technology (Purdue Polytechnic Institute); and Thanh Nguyen, Lewis B. Cullman Rising Star Associate Professor of Management (School of Management).
MySmartE has been disclosed to the Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization, which has filed a provisional intellectual property patent application. For more information, contact Matt Halladay at [email protected] at 2023-KARA-69985.
Writers: Lynne Dahmen, [email protected]
Amy Raley, [email protected]
Source: Panagiota Karava, [email protected]
