Investigating DSM cost and benefit options

For the decentralized assessment of demand side management (DSM) options, a practical set of instruments called GOLDSMITH (an acronym for Groningen system for the evaluation of options for load and demand-side management by interactive testing of modifications of hourly load shapes) was developed that can be used to confront tentative ideas and plans with empirical data. These instruments contain some original ideas concerning DSM modeling. Application of such instruments can help users develop their ideas, offer a test bed for DSM options, and strengthen the relation between theory, ideas, and the empirical facts concerning energy management issues. Initially, the project´s main result was seen as a decision-support system that uses a knowledge base about DSM options. Rules would be applied to this knowledge base, or structure would transform the options database into a larger system. Consultation of the expert system would lead to pertinent conclusions about the viability of DSM options. However, this initial goal evolved during the course of the research to an approach that reinstated the operator of the software as the final decision-maker and expert. This article describes directions taken during the research venture, the investigative software tools spawned by the research, and some practical applications