An educational simulator to understand the concept of energy flexibility
Tags: Data Visualization, Smart City Solutions, Smart Cities, Data Design, Smart Grid

During the summer of 2014, we worked with a team of researchers and designers at EDF R&D on a project around an educational simulator. This project was intended to introduce the concept of energy flexibility and explain how it can potentially make our energy consumption more sustainable.

TURNING CONSUMERS INTO CONSCIOUS ENERGY MANAGEMENT STAKEHOLDERS

Energy is a fast-changing sector. The development of renewable energies, along with the development of smart grids, is changing our traditional model. We are moving away from a centralized, one-way structure, towards a more local energy management system, down to the individual scale and based on decentralized production modes.

In this new model, the consumer, either a citizen or an economic player, is invited to play a much more active role. Learning thermostats (such as Nest) and smart meters, help optimize electricity consumption on a daily basis. Besides, domestic batteries, such as the prominent Tesla PowerWall, enable to store energy that consumers can use when they please.

Those new technologies have brought along a variety of expectations, such as being able to compare home appliances, lower bills while not compromising on comfort, reduce load curves or soften environment impact… However, fulfilling those expectations requires a robust technical knowledge. For the general public, the subject is all the more difficult to understand as electricity is a phenomenon which is by nature invisible, and tricky to conceptualize. Not to mention that the relevant information is mostly available in a data form, which is difficult to decipher.

Nonetheless, the sustainability of our electricity system depends on our ability to better control the demand side. Sustainability thus requires a broader awareness of those new devices, and of the level of flexibility they can bring to networks.

In this context, how can citizens be empowered to be involved in these new smart systems? How can they gain the capacity to better understand, and thus better manage their electricity consumption?

The need for a better mediation between data and users is particularly anticipated. To ensure an educational approach, and make new intelligent devices easier to use, people need interfaces that extract meaning from the data and make that data both usable and useful.

This was the beginning of our data visualization project, conducted in collaboration with EDF R&D. The below use case shows how we built a visual and interactive application to place users into a situation where they can manage energy flexibility.

BEYOND AWARENESS, AN ACTIVE UNDERSTANDING OF THE DATA

The concept of energy flexibility refers to the ability of our domestic electrical installations to modulate their consumption during the day. This way, they can lower their consumption during peak hours or smooth out consumption peaks to put less pressure on the global network. (A more detailed explanation of this concept will be provided later on in this case study.)

This concept of energy flexibility is particularly interesting in light of the above introduction, precisely because it allows citizens to make better decisions and control their appliances, which leads to a more sustainable consumption. In other words, energy flexibility is one way to empower consumers.

Our contacts at EDF R&D wanted to propose an educational demonstration of this concept, based on simulation data and a model of the electricity consumption across houses.

From the beginning, it was anticipated that the application could be integrated into a very large screen in EDF showrooms, and appeal to a a variety of visitors, from energy professionals, decision makers and opinion leaders.

We analyzed how such an application could mobilize the understanding of the showroom visitors, in a way that encourages them to take action, and does not simply raise awareness. To do this, we executed a data visualization application that allows visitors to understand the concept of flexibility for various home appliances and configurations. Users can compare the effects of flexibility through values such as level of electricity consumption, temperature or cost of bills.

Within this application, we created an experience articulated on three axes, to place the user in an active position:

Active understanding, with an « explorable explanation » approach in mind. Enhanced interactivity via a visualization operable from a smartphone. Playful dimension, based on a collaboration mode

1 — FEELING, RATHER THAN ASSIMILATING: THE EXPLORABLE EXPLANATIONS

The concept of « explorable explanation » was introduced by Bret Victor to describe a series of experiments around active reading and reactive texts.

According to Bret Victor, an active player possesses the ability to interrogate the text, consider various assumptions, question the coherence and reliability of the content, rather than passively assimilate information.

Victor observes that the typical format of explanatory content — articles, books, reports, etc. — rarely encourages such critical thinking, and often merely presents the arguments of the author.

Bret Victor expresses the wish that those content types do not convey information for mere consumption, but rather prove thought-provoking, and lead readers to think further, thus placing them in an active position.

« A reactive document allows the reader to play with the author’s assumptions and analyses, and see the consequences. » Explorable Explanations / Bret Victor / March 10, 2011

Bret Victor presents various examples where interactivity, coupled with modeling and data, leads the reader to a more stimulating and intuitive understanding of physical, economic, or mathematical phenomenon.

Bret Victor’s « explorable examples » aim to bring readers to experience first hand complex models by playing with sliders, altering key figures or observing recurring patterns.

« An explorable example makes the abstract concrete, and allows the reader to develop an intuition for how a system works. » Explorable Explanations / Bret Victor / March 10, 2011

Other people, in addition to Bret Victor recently embraced a similar approach, in order to create highly compelling educational scenarios. Here is an example of an « explorable explanation », conducted by Bret Victor.

To conceive an educational application about energy flexibility, we experienced the same need to mix text, interactivity features and data visualization to allow users to understand a complicated concept.

In the section below, we attempt to reproduce a short part of the demonstration implemented in the final simulator.

Let us start with a very simple principle: it is complicated to store electricity on a large scale.

Therefore, it is necessary to balance at all times the supply and demand on the French power grid, nationally and locally.

This balance is tricky to obtain:

From the demand side, we collectively tend to consume electricity at the same times: in the morning before going to work, in the evening as we come home, on those very cold winter days, etc. The demand for electricity in France is thus characterized by strong variations which follow the seasons and hours of the day.

From the supply side, however, it is very costly to vary the production capacity in such proportions. Nuclear plants cannot easily adjust their pace of production, and renewable energy (solar, wind, etc.) are by nature irregular.

Electricity consumption levels in France, every 30 minutes, in 2013: