meet the meter: visualising smart grids using self-organising institutions and serious games

Meet the Meter: Visualising SmartGrids usingSelf-Organising Institutions and Serious Games

Aikaterini Bourazeri1, Jeremy Pitt1, Pablo Almajano2, InmaculadaRodrıguez2 and Maite Lopez-Sanchez2

1Department of Electrical & Electronic EngineeringImperial College London, SW7 2BT UK

2Departament de Matematica Aplicada i AnalisiUniversitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

10th September 2012

Bourazeri, Pitt, Almajano, Rodrıguez, Lopez-Sanchez Meet the Meter 1 / 17

Agenda

Agenda

Smart Grids

User-Infrastructure Interfaces

User Participation

Proposal: Serious Game Institutions

A Working Example

Summary and Conclusions


Smart Grids

Smart Grids use Information Technology and Communications to underpinthe network’s infrastructure and performance.

Meeting Targets:

Global warming & carbon dioxide emissions

Consumer demand for low & competitive electricity prices

Guaranteed security & protection against malicious attacks

Electrification of transport & heating

Smoothing out peak demand

Although SmartGrids focus on the demand-side and are predicated onconsumer participation, the User-Infrastructure Interface is still largelyneglected.


Smart Grids

We propose a User-Infrastructure Interface in which:

Information visualisation for comparative feedback

New affordances for the Smart Meters

are integrated within a virtual environment for a Serious Game.

Users will ”Meet the Meter”, providing ’assistive awareness’ and gainexperience and knowledge for long-term engagement with the newinfrastructure.


User-Infrastructure Interfaces

A User-Interface aims to extend the communication bridge between theconsumers and the Smart Grid.

We have focused on two studies:

Almajano - Assistance Infrastructure for open MAS for both humanand software agents. It is composed of two layers for agentinteraction, historical information and general assistance.

Fung Lam - Infrastructure development and maintenance for irrigationmanagement system in Nepal. New technology infrastructure couldimprove system’s performance, but it depends on the institutions andtheir effectiveness.


User ParticipationEngaging Users through Serious Games

‘Serious games are digital games, simulations and virtual environmentswhich purpose is not only to entertain, but also to assist learning and helpusers develop skills such as decision-making, long-term engagement andcollaboration.‘

Features:

Thought-provoking

Informative

Stimulating

Promote active involvement & participation

Two ways for encouraging consumer participation inside the grid:

Serious virtual worlds for direct consumer participation

Game for training purposes


User ParticipationUsers and Comparative Feedback

A mean for engaging users with the Advanced Metering Infrastructure(AMI):

Based on actual energy consumption

Provided on frequent basis

Comparison of past energy consumptions

Helps consumers identify their consumption patterns

Studies:

Darby - comparative feedback more effective than direct (up to 10 %decrease in energy consumption)

Fischer - a way of triggering users’ behaviours and habits (up to 12 %decrease in energy use)

Moere - encourages social involvement and competition, increasesawareness towards energy consumption


User ParticipationSmart Meters

They are like the known meters that are installed on our households forreading the electricity consumption, but with advanced features.

User interface for communication & interaction

Control the energy consumption

Process and transmit consumer’s information to energy providers

Remote reading via a mobile application

Real-time pricing display

Connected to electrical appliances



Development of a User-Infrastructure Interface for Smart Grids:

Information visualisation for comparative feedback

New affordances for the Smart Meters

Encapsulation of self-organisation aspects

Supports the principles for enduring institutions

‘Assistive awareness‘ for necessary experience & user engagement

Better understanding of resource allocation, prices, investmentdecisions & grid’s sustainability



Table: Ostrom’s Principles encapsulated by a Serious Game

Serious Game

Ostrom’s Principles User Participation

Clearly defined bound-aries

Game access

Congruence betweenappropriation/provisionrules and local environ-ment

Locations supportingcomparative feedbackfor different ‘roles’

Collective choice ar-rangements

Deliberative Assemblylocation

Monitoring Smart Meters

Graduated Incentives Sanctions and rewards

Conflict resolution Court Room location



Principle 1: The online world represents the institution and amembership for playing a character is needed.

Principle 2: Visualisation of different sorts of data for differentpurposes, enabling users to configure the rules of their institution.

Principle 3: Specialised decision-making forum for collective choice(deliberative assembly).

Principle 4: The data will be streamed by some kind of monitoringagency (Smart Meters).

Principle 5: The virtual environment rewards the successful game playand sanctions inappropriate behaviour.

Principle 6: When disputes occur, they can be resolved in anotherspecialised location (‘Court Room‘).



Different ‘Consumer‘ Roles in the Smart Grids:

Prosumer: makes choices about prices, which energy provider to gethis/her electricity from, selling surplus energy back to the grid.

Citizen: may be concerned with collective utility and the impact ofhis/her consumption profile on global warming, has an interest insetting and meeting policy targets.

Practitioner: might be concerned with coordinated activity for storageand planning local (micro-Grid) developments.


A Working Example

Focus on the use of advanced technologies to build the communicationbridge between ‘consumers‘ and the Smart Grid.

Virtual Institutions (VI): 3D normative environments for direct humanparticipation in an Electronic Institution (human & software agents).

Electronic Institution (EI): an organisation centred multi-agentsystem, which models the market (defining roles and interactionprotocols).

Virtual World (VW): 3D advanced interface for direct humaninclusion in the system.


A working example

Virtual Institution (combination of 3D Virtual Worlds (VW) and ElectronicInstitutions (EI)) can model a Serious Game for Smart Grids.

Provide all the necessary means for human inclusion in the system

A human can control his/her avatar (embodied character)

Enhanced visualisation information of the system and its facilities

Participants’ interaction in a seamless and intuitive way (voice, chat,gestures)


A Working Example

Six different activities can be enabled in the Serious Game:

Smart Grid Presentation

Private Information

Public Information

Simulation

Assembly

Conflict ResolutionFigure: Virtual World populatedby 3D virtual charactersperforming collectivearrangements (human-human andhuman-agent interactions)



Research Contribution: a User-Infrastructure Interface for Smart Grids,in which information visualisation for comparative feedback, Smart Metersand user participation are integrated into a virtual environment.

Using a Smart Meter to provide ‘assistive awareness‘ in a Serious Game:

Enables long-term user engagement

Offers participants a deeper insight into decision-making, resourceallocation and sustainability in their different roles



Restrictions concerning the user participation inside the grid:

The majority of users are not aware of grid management

A high percentage of user participation is needed for an efficient gridoperation

Decision-making should be immediate and accurate

Users have to invest money on amenities with long-term benefits

Users should know their exact role inside the grid

Collection of personal data should be done carefully


meet the meter: visualising smart grids using self-organising institutions and serious games

Education

rodr guez

user interface

smart grids smart grids

new infrastructure

user participationusers

serious games serious

user participationsmart

networks infrastructure