User interaction interface for Energy Management in Smart Homes

The growing share of fluctuating power generation by renewable resources and the increasing distribution of battery electric vehicles require the integration of intelligent Energy Management Systems (EMS) into the electrical power grid. Smart Homes will be equipped with controllable consumers, suppliers and storages to realize a flexible consumption and supply of thermal and electrical energy. In this challenge, the interactive integration of the smart home´s resident is essential to reduce comfort losses to a minimum. In this paper, we present a generic Energy Management Panel (EMP) providing the connection between the resident and the EMS and its integration into the EMS of a real smart home. The integrated approach considers thermal and electrical energy flows concurrently. In this way, the EMP provides an efficient operation of the EMS complying with the individual constraints of the resident.