Gas-energy observatory

• US 20080027885A1
• Filed: 07/31/2006
• Published: 01/31/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Antonius Fp Van Putten, Mauritius H.P.M. Van Putten, Michael J.A.M. Van Putten, Pascal F.A.M. Van Putten
• Original Assignee: Antonius Fp Van Putten, Mauritius H.P.M. Van Putten, Michael J.A.M. Van Putten, Pascal F.A.M. Van Putten
• Inventors: van Putten, Pascal F.A.M., van Putten, Mauritius H.P.M., van Putten, Michael J.A.M., van Putten, Antonius F.P.
• Granted Patent: US 7,636,666 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/412
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 2204/14 Displaying of utility usage with respect to time, e.g. for monitoring evolution of usage or with respect to weather conditions
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 4/004 Remote reading of utility meters to a fixed location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 Energy or water supply
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 70/30 Systems integrating technologies related to power network operation and communication or information technologies for improving the carbon footprint of the management of residential or tertiary loads, i.e. smart grids as climate change mitigation technology in the buildings sector, including also the last stages of power distribution and the control, monitoring or operating management systems at local level
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 70/34 Smart metering supporting the carbon neutral operation of end-user applications in buildings
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 90/20 Smart grids as enabling technology in buildings sector smart grids supporting the management or operation of end-user stationary applications in general, or like technologies with no associated climate change mitigation effect Y04S20/00
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/242 Home appliances
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/30 Smart metering, e.g. specially adapted for remote reading

Abstract

Heating is a significant factor in residential gas-energy usage. Saving energy on heating is receiving increasing attention with rising energy prices and the Kyoto Protocol on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Energy awareness and energy efficiency hereby become important qualifications for human behavior and residential building codes, and become a factor in the evolution of the global climate. Here, we describe a novel measurement and validation system for domestic gas-energy usage in combination with primary weather data. We disclose a gas-energy observatory which visualizes human behavior in gas-energy consumption associated with domestic facilities, and measures home energy efficiency by calorimetry. Weather-sensitivity analysis quantifies energy-usage as a function of small variations in room temperature and home energy efficiency. Weather-sensitivity data can be used to calculate changes in room-temperature settings or improvements in home insulation for a desired reduction in CO₂-output. By public dissemination of its primary weather data, it creates in dual-use at no additional cost a novel in-situ climate observational systems with unprecedented wide-area coverage and spatial resolution.

Claims

1. A method for observing and analyzing domestic gas-energy usage with the property that said method identifies human behavior and weather sensitivity therein on the basis of gas-flow measurements and outside temperatures, where said human behavior is visualized at generally high sampling rates to identify energy consumption patterns associated with each residential facility, where said weather sensitivity identifies a Total Climate Sensitivity (TCS) and Home Energy Efficiency (HEE), where said TCS expresses sensitivity of total gas-energy usage to the most recent weather pattern, where said HEE expresses sensitivity of gas-energy usage in heating about a specific fixed outside temperature characteristic of cold weather, where said TCS and HEE are calculated on the basis of best-fit functional approximations to the data.

4. A method for observing and analyzing domestic gas-energy usage according to claim 1 with the property that TCS and HEE are archived in a central data-storage where TCS serves to detect long-term trends in home-climate and HEE serves to detect long-term trends in the efficiency in heating equipment and home-insulation including validation of home-improvements.

5. A method for observing and analyzing domestic gas-energy usage according to claim 1 with the property that said TCS is calculated for different time-frames of the day, said time-periods reflecting different types of human activity and heating, where said time-frames generally include 0:

00-8;

00, 8;

00-16;

00 and 16;

00-24;

00 hr.

6. A method for observing and analyzing domestic gas-energy usage according to claim 1 with the property that TCS and HEE are used as home energy quality labels on the housing market, where said housing market includes appraisal, mortgages and sales.

7. A method for observing and analyzing domestic gas-energy usage according to claim 1 with the property that said weather data are centrally collected by state or government agency for the purpose of creating a wide-area in-situ climate observation system.

2. A method for energy-saving home-climate control with the property that the inside temperature is correlated to the outside temperature, where the strength of said correlation is governed by Total Climate Sensitivity (TCS) by weather sensitivity analysis on gas-energy usage and recently observed outside temperatures, where said TCS expresses sensitivity of total gas-energy usage to the most recent weather pattern, where said TCS is calculated on the basis of best-fit functional approximations to the data, where said climate control is subject to standard temperature limits to safeguard home, comfort and health.

8. A method for energy-saving home-climate control according to claim 2 with the property that a user-friendly one-button switch enforces a pre-set percentage in energy savings, where said energy-savings is achieved by increasing the correlation between inside and outside temperature, where said increase in correlation is determined by said Total Climate Sensitivity (TCS).

9. A method for energy-saving home-climate control according to claim 2 with the property that direct user-feedback accompanies a new home-climate set-point chosen by the user, where said user-feedback consists of a predicted energy-savings, where said prediction is calculated on the basis Total Climate Sensitivity (TCS), where set home-climate set-point generally refers to a parameters describing home-temperature and correlation thereof to the outside temperatures.

3. A method for energy-saving home-climate control with the property that said home-climate can be switched into normal and stand-by mode by remote access, where said normal mode refers to a home-climate with persons present at home and said stand-by mode refers to a home-climate with no persons present at home, where said stand-by mode is subject to standard temperature limits to safeguard home against freezing and high humidity, where said remote access is by mobile phone or internet with password or pincode protection.