Finding optimal energy-saving operations in Home Network System based on effects between appliances and environment

We have been studying energy-saving schemes using the Home Network System (HNS), integrating multiple appliances and sensors at home. In our previous research, we defined an appliance/environment effect, with which a set of lower-energy operations were explored. However, this method did not consider the side-effects to multiple environment properties, nor optimization of the operations. To cope with the restrictions, this paper first presents a method that analyzes the contribution of each operation to the environment properties, using the Goal-Oriented Requirement Language. We then represent the selection of energy-saving operations by a boolean vector X, and characterize each property by a polynomial f(X) with coefficients of the contribution. Finally, the problem is reduced to a mathematical programming, finding an optimal solution X_o that minimizes the power consumption.