Projects:2020s1-2522 Real-Time Electricity Greenness Map for U-City Building
Contents
Background
Electricity is a versatile and unique product which has become a part of modern day life. People worldwide have become reliant on electricity to facilitate for their daily needs, but there is generally a lack of awareness about the impacts it leaves behind, especially greenhouse gas emissions. Electricity is the largest sector which has contributed to Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions in Australia, with the most recent Quarterly Update from the Australian Government in May 2020 indicating that 187.5 MT CO2-e (mega tonnes of carbon emissions) has come from electricity production alone [1]. This accounts for more than third of the country’s total emissions [1]. To that end, providing real-time information about the situation of the grid (financial and environmental) combined with the electricity consumption of the end-users might encourage consumers to adjust themselves to be more green or to help the grid to reduce electricity prices. This can be significant for a diverse community such as U-City.
For more information, check out our video on Youtube: https://youtu.be/2fH8A9yvgUM
What Is The Greenness Map?
The Greenness Map is a versatile and interactive software product aimed to help consumers monitor their electricity use in real time and understand the impact it contributes to GHG emissions. An important feature of the Greenness Map is the Greenness Factor, which measures the level of 'greenness' in the U-City building. The Greenness Factor incorporates data from multiple sources, including:
- U-City’s 55kW solar PV rooftop system in real time
- Electricity importation into U-City from the South Australian grid in real time
- Historical electrical metering from U-City
- Real time Greenhouse Gas emissions data from ElectricityMap:
- Fossil Fuel Percentage (FF%) – determining how much renewable power is being imported into U-City
- Carbon Intensity Factor (CI) – the emission rate of the air pollutants arising from South Australia’s grid production
The Greenness Factor ranges between 0 to 100, with 0 indicating that the building is operating in the worst possible case (known as the black state) and 100 indicating that the building is in the best case (known as the green state). This points system is accompanied with colour scale to visually represent the real time Greenness Factor score:
The colour scale is intended to complement the Greenness Factor score in order to increase consumer awareness about U-City’s GHG emissions situation in real time. A scale with both colour extremes as the minimum and maximum respectively can potentially prompt consumers to change their behaviours in a particular time and day. Obtaining the following scores likely indicate that U-City is:
0 - The Zero State
- Using a greater quantity of power than expected, coming from total non-renewable generation
25 - The Red State
- Using more power than expected, which comes from predominately non-renewable generation
50 - The Mid State
- Using slightly more power or close to as expected, coming from a balanced mix of renewable and non-renewable power
75 - The Satisfactory State
- Reducing some power usage, which comes from predominately renewable generation
100 – The Green State
- Exceptional reduction in power usage, coming from total renewable generation
Whilst it might not always be possible to obtain a Greenness Factor of 100, colour map is intended to encourage consumers to achieve a high Greenness Factor score and hence, stay in the greener regions of the scale.
Our Partners: U-City
Owned and operated by Uniting Communities, U-City is a multipurpose 20 storey building located on 43 Franklin Street, Adelaide. The U-City building caters for:
- Retirement residencies
- Accessible serviced apartments
- Specialist disability accommodation
- Social Services Hub
- Commercial and retail spaces
U-City aims to create a vibrant, integrated community that incorporates residential, commercial, social and community services to establish a sustainable and inclusive community in the heart of Adelaide. The project team has worked closely with U-City to create a Greenness Map design that can further improve the building’s current 6 Star Green Star rating, which was awarded by the Green Building Council of Australia in 2018 [2].
Find out more about our partners at: https://www.ucity.com.au/
The Greenness Map Interface
Greenness Map interface was designed using Kivy, which is an open source, cross platform Python framework that can be used to develop mobile applications [3]. Kivy was chosen to create the Greenness Map interface because it was compatible with the project’s Python programs and scripts. From Kivy, the Greenness Map will deployed as a mobile application for consumers of U-City to utilise, which will be a platform to show the real time data. The diagrams below illustrate the current layout of the Greenness Map user interface:
The Greenness Map consists of a home page, which prompts consumers of U-City to login to access the content. The menu tab on the application has an About the Project option that enables users to understand the purpose of the Greenness Map. This option also displays a guideline in which users can follow in order to use the application. The Electricity Usage option displays the live Greenness Map data, including the Greenness Factor with an associated colour map and scale, a status and messaging update as well as extended details of the real time inputs. The simplistic design is intended to increase the consumer experience with the Greenness Map and ensure that they are able to gain an understanding of the real time data.
MATLAB Graphical User Interface
A Graphical User Interface (GUI) was created for users to interact with the project's Greenness Factor calculation methods using a proprietary multi-paradigm programming language called MATLAB. The MATLAB GUI enables users to change the values of the input parameters using 'click and drag' sliders. As the values on these sliders change, the Greenness Factor results in both calculation methods will also change. Demonstrating the outcomes of the two Greenness Factor calculation methods using this approach enables users to see a visual comparison between both methods. It also enables users to understand the complexity of each calculation method as they both utilise the input parameters in different ways. For example, the Greenness Factor calculation in Method 2 has a larger focus on the Fossil Fuel Percentage data from ElectricityMap, whereas the Method 1 calculation is affected by parameters such as the standard load demand.
The Database Setup
Heroku is a cloud-based technology that ensures the project's core programs and data sources are collected and stored onto a unique server. This also ensures that all critical components of the Greenness Map design are interconnected. The overall layout on Heroku is illustrated in the flowchart below:
The Flowchart Explained Further:
ElectricityMap
An Application Programming Interface (API) license has been obtained from ElectricityMap to access the Carbon Intensity (CI) and Fossil Fuel Percentage (FF%) data from South Australia in real time, which is stored onto Heroku.
U-City
Storing the historical electrical metering data as well as solar data from U-City's existing building management systems.
Crontogo
A compatible task scheduler with Heroku, in which schedules results automatically within a 60 second precision using the Unix cron format. This enables the project's programming scripts to run every 30 minutes on a 24/7 basis.
Python
As Python is a supported programming language in Heroku, it is used to write the Greenness Factor programs and utilise the inputs from ElectricityMap and U-City.
pgAdmin
The project's data viewing interface, which enables the project team to view and analyse the extended results from the Python programs and hence, make adjustments to those programming scripts where necessary.
Kivy
The Greenness Map interface is designed using Kivy, which is an open source, cross platform Python framework that can be used to develop mobile applications. From all of the collected data on Heroku, the real time data, including the Greenness Factor and other related visual components are able to be implemented on a Greenness Map, which can be used by consumers of U-City.
Future Implementation On Public Display Screens
Whilst the project team has developed the Greenness Map as a software product for mobile devices, proposed designs to implement the Greenness Map interface on display screens was also initiated. For future development of this project, this will be beneficial for a diverse community such as U-City. This proposed concept could potentially increase further awareness of our Greenness Map design and convey the importance of reducing the building's GHG emissions situation in real time.
Why Is This Project Significant In The Future?
The Greenness Map has the potential to become a leading product in the future. The universal design of our software product and interface means that the Greenness Map can be implemented and customised to suit a wider range of other commercial businesses and residential households, whether they may be on a large or small scale. Ultimately, a project of this nature can aspire a positive change for our economy and help us to become smarter in the way consumers use electricity on a daily basis.
The increase in investment opportunities for low emission technology solutions also provides further motivation for the development of such a project. In particular, The Technology Investment Roadmap initiated by the Australian Government in 2020 aims to introduce low emission technology solutions that can assist in the rapid reduction of GHG emissions and support economic growth for the country [4]. The Greenness Map design is particularly aligned with the Emerging and Enabling Technology category of the Roadmap's Low Emissions Technology Statement, which looks at implementing energy management systems and digital infrastructure to overcome current GHG emission challenges in Australia and help realise the opportunities for priority low emission technologies [4]. This encourages an innovate design such as the Greenness Map to be implemented as a future technology.
Our Project Team
Students
- Thomas Lancione
- Langran Xie
Supervisors
- Ali Pourmousavi Kani
- Christoph Treude
- Wen Soong
U-City Representative
- Lydia Crawford-Pope
References
[1] E. Hanna, "Climate change — reducing Australia’s emissions", Parliament of Australia, 2020.
[2] C. Jewell, "U City tops South Australia’s Green Star charts", The Fifth Estate, 2018.
[3] “Kivy - Open source Python library for rapid development of applications
that make use of innovative user interfaces, such as multi-touch apps”, kivy.org, 2020.
[4] A. Taylor and A. Finkel, “TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENT ROADMAP, Global leadership in low emissions technologies First Low Emissions Technology Statement – 2020”, Australian Government - Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources, 2020.
