INTEGRATING A VIRTUAL CURRENCY IN ENERGY ECOSYSTEMS

摘要

Smart meters' data can become more powerful for cities/regions and utilities/energy providers than what was initially envisaged; this is the case, when interpreted along with data coming from different sources, such as sensors' data from buildings, price data from markets, weather data, end-user's behavioural data and demographics. In this case, Peer-to-Peer (P2P) energy trading is enabled, fully exploiting IoT, where people can reduce the energy consumption from energy efficiency/management actions and/or generate their own energy from renewables, and share it with each other. Such a chain can create value, if connected with a currency; a virtual energy currency. In this study a novel framework connecting energy production and saving with a virtual energy currency is presented. Energy end-users are able to earn coins, in terms of digital currencies, by reducing or shifting their energy consumption. The coins earned are related to the actual energy consumption compared to the predicted energy consumption and the daily amount of energy saved by the end-user. The added value consists of correlating various different types of data from different sources and human behaviour, hence integrating different systems, in order to optimise and achieve sustainable energy management, within a smart city context.