The goal of the European ENERsip project is the control of energy consumption by each user. A graphic interface will provide services aimed at saving energy and improving the level of comfort at each moment, thus achieving efficient energy consumption and generation, based on the demand of the user.
ENERsip is a European project which is due to last until 2012 and in which ESI-Tecnalia and companies such as Motorola, Amplia, Honeywell and Israel Electric Corporation, amongst others, are taking part.
Basically it involves a monitoring and control system using sensors that enable the calculation of energy that each user consumes, and also the energy that can be generated by solar panels installed on the building, from wind-sourced energy, etc. In this way it is possible to establish a balance between consumption and generation that would enable identifying, based on user demand, the optimum moment to consume and generate this energy, with all the concomitant savings that this entails.
Ms Leire Bastida, Doctor in Computational Sciences at ESI-Tecnalia and one of the researchers of the project, pointed out that, “each user, from their own home and using a device such as a PC or a PDA, is capable of knowing when most energy is consumed and how energy can be saved with that consumption”.
The project is also aimed at electric utilities which, as a function of the quantity and time of consumption, will be able to establish tariffs adapted to each need. “The companies will also be able to predict the quantity of energy that will be needed at each moment, thus optimising its generation and avoiding it being wasted – precisely the goal of the project”, underlined Ms Bastida.
The project arose as a response to the energy needs for each moment, given that the demands of consumption are not always the same. Adapting to these demands it is possible to establish energy, and therefore cost, savings for the consumer, optimisation in the generation of energy by the utilities and the creation of new business models and, as a consequence, respecting the environment through the consumption and generation of renewable energy.