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In recent years, the building sector has experienced an increasing legislative pressure to reduce the energy consumption. This has created a global need for affordable building management systems (BMS) in areas such as lighting-, temperature-, air quality monitoring and control. BMS uses 2D and 3D building representations to visualize various aspects of building operations. Today the creation of these visual building representations relies on labor-intensive and costly computer-aided design (CAD) processes. Hence, to create affordable BMS there is an urgent need to develop methods for cost-effective automatic creation of visual building representations. This paper introduces an automatic, metadata-driven method for constructing building visualizations using metadata from existing smart building infrastructure. The method presented in this study utilizes a Velocity Verlet integration-based physics particle simulation that uses metadata to define the force dynamics within the simulation. This process generates an abstract point cloud representing the organization of BMS components into building zones. The developed system was tested in two buildings of respectively 2,560 m2 and 18,000 m2. The method successfully produced visual building representations based on the available metadata, demonstrating its feasibility and cost-effectiveness., Comment: 15 pages, 11 figures

The retrofitting of existing buildings with building management systems presents significant challenges, primarily due to the need for labor and cost efficiency. Wireless technology offers a promising solution to these challenges by minimizing the need for extensive wiring and structural alterations. However, achieving retrofitting in a cost-effective manner necessitates the use of low-cost wireless technologies. This paper introduces a framework for constructing a Zigbee gateway using open-source tools combined with low-cost hardware. The proposed architecture addresses large-scale IoT deployments within the Zigbee ecosystem. By leveraging edge computing with the robustness and scalability offered by Zigbee technology, this architecture significantly reduces the economic barriers to retrofit buildings with building management systems. The results underscore the potential of open-source Zigbee technology in aligning with sustainability goals, providing a cost-effective pathway for retrofitting buildings into smart, energy-efficient living environments.

The growing shift towards a Smart Grid involves integrating numerous new digital energy solutions into the energy ecosystems to address problems arising from the transition to carbon neutrality, particularly in linking the electricity and transportation sectors. Yet, this shift brings challenges due to mass electric vehicle adoption and the lack of methods to adequately assess various EV charging algorithms and their ecosystem impacts. This paper introduces a multi-agent based simulation model, validated through a case study of a Danish radial distribution network serving 126 households. The study reveals that traditional charging leads to grid overload by 2031 at 67% EV penetration, while decentralized strategies like Real-Time Pricing could cause overloads as early as 2028. The developed multi-agent based simulation demonstrates its ability to offer detailed, hourly analysis of future load profiles in distribution grids, and therefore, can be applied to other prospective scenarios in similar energy systems.

Power-to-Hydrogen is crucial for the renewable energy transition, yet existing literature lacks business models for the significant excess heat it generates. This study addresses this by evaluating three models for selling electrolyzer-generated heat to district heating grids: constant, flexible, and renewable-source hydrogen production, with and without heat sales. Using agent-based modeling and multi-criteria decision-making methods (VIKOR, TOPSIS, PROMETHEE), it finds that selling excess heat can cut hydrogen production costs by 5.6%. The optimal model operates flexibly with electricity spot prices, includes heat sales, and maintains a hydrogen price of 3.3 EUR/kg. Environmentally, hydrogen production from grid electricity could emit up to 13,783.8 tons of CO2 over four years from 2023. The best economic and environmental model uses renewable sources and sells heat at 3.5 EUR/kg

This paper addresses the critical integration of electric vehicles (EVs) into the electricity grid, which is essential for achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. The rapid increase in EV adoption poses significant challenges to the existing grid infrastructure, particularly in managing the increasing electricity demand and mitigating the risk of grid overloads. Centralized EV charging strategies are investigated due to their potential to optimize grid stability and efficiency, compared to decentralized approaches that may exacerbate grid stress. Utilizing a multi-agent based simulation model, the study provides a realistic representation of the electric vehicle home charging ecosystem in a case study of Strib, Denmark. The findings show that the Earliest-deadline-first and Round Robin perform best with 100% EV adoption in terms of EV user satisfaction. The simulation considers a realistic adoption curve, EV charging strategies, EV models, and driving patterns to capture the full ecosystem dynamics over a long-term period with high resolution (hourly). Additionally, the study offers detailed load profiles for future distribution grids, demonstrating how centralized charging strategies can efficiently manage grid loads and prevent overloads.

Advanced machine learning algorithms are increasingly utilized to provide data-based prediction and decision-making support in Industry 4.0. However, the prediction accuracy achieved by the existing models is insufficient to warrant practical implementation in real-world applications. This is because not all features present in real-world datasets possess a direct relevance to the predictive analysis being conducted. Consequently, the careful incorporation of select features has the potential to yield a substantial positive impact on the outcome. To address the research gap, this paper proposes a novel hybrid framework that combines the feature importance detector - local interpretable model-agnostic explanations (LIME) and the feature interaction detector - neural interaction detection (NID), to improve prediction accuracy. By applying the proposed framework, unnecessary features can be eliminated, and interactions are encoded to generate a more conducive dataset for predictive purposes. Subsequently, the proposed model is deployed to refine the prediction of electricity consumption in foundry processing. The experimental outcomes reveal an augmentation of up to 9.56% in the R2 score, and a diminution of up to 24.05% in the root mean square error.

The transportation sector remains a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. The understanding of energy-efficient driving behaviors and utilization of energy-efficient driving strategies are essential to reduce vehicles' fuel consumption. However, there is no comprehensive investigation into energy-efficient driving behaviors and strategies. Furthermore, many state-of-the-art AI models have been applied for the analysis of eco-friendly driving styles, but no overview is available. To fill the gap, this paper conducts a thorough literature review on ecological driving behaviors and styles and analyzes the driving factors influencing energy consumption and state-of-the-art methodologies. With a thorough scoping review process, the methodological and related data are compared. The results show that the factors that impact driving behaviors can be summarized into eleven features including speed, acceleration, deceleration, pedal, and so on. This paper finds that supervised/unsupervised learning algorithms and reinforcement learning frameworks have been popularly used to model the vehicle's energy consumption with multi-dimensional data. Furthermore, the literature shows that the driving data are collected from either simulators or real-world experiments, and the real-world data are mainly stored and transmitted by meters, controller area networks, onboard data services, smartphones, and additional sensors installed in the vehicle. Based on driving behavior factors, driver characteristics, and safety rules, this paper recommends nine energy-efficient driving styles including four guidelines for the drivers' selection and adjustment of the vehicle parameters, three recommendations for the energy-efficient driving styles in different driving scenarios, and two subjective suggestions for different types of drivers and employers.

Digitalization is challenging in heavy industrial sectors, and many pi-lot projects facing difficulties to be replicated and scaled. Case studies are strong pedagogical vehicles for learning and sharing experience & knowledge, but rarely available in the literature. Therefore, this paper conducts a survey to gather a diverse set of nine industry cases, which are subsequently subjected to analysis using the business model canvas (BMC). The cases are summarized and compared based on nine BMC components, and a Value of Business Model (VBM) evaluation index is proposed to assess the business potential of industrial digital solutions. The results show that the main partners are industry stakeholders, IT companies and academic institutes. Their key activities for digital solutions include big-data analysis, machine learning algorithms, digital twins, and internet of things developments. The value propositions of most cases are improving energy efficiency and enabling energy flexibility. Moreover, the technology readiness levels of six industrial digital solutions are under level 7, indicating that they need further validation in real-world environments. Building upon these insights, this paper proposes six recommendations for future industrial digital solution development: fostering cross-sector collaboration, prioritizing comprehensive testing and validation, extending value propositions, enhancing product adaptability, providing user-friendly platforms, and adopting transparent recommendations.

The beverage industry is a typical food processing industry, accounts for significant energy consumption, and has flexible demands. However, the deployment of energy flexibility in the beverage industry is complex and challenging. Furthermore, activation of energy flexibility from the whole brewery industry is necessary to ensure grid stability. Therefore, this paper assesses the energy flexibility potential of Denmark's brewery sector based on a multi-agent-based simulation. 239 individual brewery facilities are simulated, and each facility, as an agent, can interact with the energy system market and make decisions based on its underlying parameters and operational restrictions. The results show that the Danish breweries could save 1.56 % of electricity costs annually while maintaining operational security and reducing approximately 1745 tonnes of CO2 emissions. Furthermore, medium-size breweries could obtain higher relative benefits by providing energy flexibility, especially those producing lager and ale. The result also shows that the breweries' relative saving potential is electricity market-dependent.

Electric vehicles are expected to significantly contribute to CO2-eq. emissions reduction, but the increasing number of EVs also introduces chal-lenges to the energy system, and to what extent it contributes to achieving cli-mate goals remains unknown. Static modeling and assumption-based simula-tions have been used for such investigation, but they cannot capture the realistic ecosystem dynamics. To fill the gap, this paper investigates the impacts of two adoption curves of private EVs on the electricity distribution grids and national climate goals. This paper develops a multi-agent based simulation with two adoption curves, the Traditional EV charging strategy, various EV models, driv-ing patterns, and CO2-eq. emission data to capture the full ecosystem dynamics during a long-term period from 2020 to 2032. The Danish 2030 climate goal and a Danish distribution network with 126 residential consumers are chosen as the case study. The results show that both EV adoption curves of 1 million and 775k EVs by 2030 will not satisfy the Danish climate goal of reducing transport sector emissions by 30% by 2030. The results also show that the current resi-dential electricity distribution grids cannot handle the load from increasing EVs. The first grid overload will occur in 2031 (around 16 and 24 months later for the 1 million and 775k EVs adopted by 2030) with a 67% share of EVs in the grid.

Energy load disaggregation can contribute to balancing power grids by enhancing the effectiveness of demand-side management and promoting electricity-saving behavior through increased consumer awareness. However, the field currently lacks a comprehensive overview. To address this gap, this paper con-ducts a scoping review of load disaggregation domains, data types, and methods, by assessing 72 full-text journal articles. The findings reveal that domestic electricity consumption is the most researched area, while others, such as industrial load disaggregation, are rarely discussed. The majority of research uses relatively low-frequency data, sampled between 1 and 60 seconds. A wide variety of methods are used, and artificial neural networks are the most common, followed by optimization strategies, Hidden Markov Models, and Graph Signal Processing approaches.

Improving energy efficiency in industrial production processes is crucial for competitiveness, and compliance with climate policies. This paper introduces a data-driven approach to identify optimal melting patterns in induction furnaces. Through time-series K-means clustering the melting patterns could be classified into distinct clusters based on temperature profiles. Using the elbow method, 12 clusters were identified, representing the range of melting patterns. Performance parameters such as melting time, energy-specific performance, and carbon cost were established for each cluster, indicating furnace efficiency and environmental impact. Multiple criteria decision-making methods including Simple Additive Weighting, Multiplicative Exponential Weighting, Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution, modified TOPSIS, and VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje were utilized to determine the best-practice cluster. The study successfully identified the cluster with the best performance. Implementing the best practice operation resulted in an 8.6 % reduction in electricity costs, highlighting the potential energy savings in the foundry.

Facing economic challenges due to the diverse objectives of businesses, and consumers, commercial greenhouses strive to minimize energy costs while addressing CO2 emissions. This scenario is intensified by rising energy costs and the global imperative to curtail CO2 emissions. To address these dynamic economic challenges, this paper proposes an architectural design for an energy economic dispatch testbed for commercial greenhouses. Utilizing the Attribute-Driven De-sign method, core architectural components of a software-in-the-loop testbed are proposed which emphasizes modularity and careful consideration of the multi-objective optimization problem. This approach extends prior research by implementing a modular multi-objective optimization framework in Java. The results demonstrate the successful integration of the CO2 reduction objective within the modular architecture with minimal effort. The multi-objective optimization output can also be employed to examine cost and CO2 objectives, ultimately serving as a valuable decision-support tool. The novel testbed architecture and a modular approach can tackle the multi-objective optimization problem and enable commercial greenhouses to navigate the intricate landscape of energy cost and CO2 emissions management., Comment: 19 pages