Powering Smarter, More Efficient Homes: Panagiota Karava's Vision for Connected Energy-Aware Communities
Panagiota Karava, a professor at Purdue University, has been leading a groundbreaking project focused on "Sociotechnical Systems to Enable Smart and Connected Energy Aware Residential Communities." Panagiota and her team have been exploring innovative ways to help residents understand and reduce their home energy use.
During a recent interview, Panagiota shared insights into her work, highlighting the successes of the project and the potential impact it could have on communities across the country.
Empowering Residents through Smart Energy Feedback
One of the key components of Panagiota's project is the development of a home energy management system with a user engagement app called "MySmartE." This system utilizes a visual and voice end-use devices including a tablet and a voice assistant, similar to Amazon Alexa, or a smart phone to provide residents with real-time feedback on their energy usage. The system includes gamification elements and a two-way interaction between the app and the thermostat, allowing residents to actively engage with their energy consumption and make informed decisions.
Encouraging Energy-Efficient Behavior through Smart Thermostats
Another aspect of Panagiota's work is the development of a smart thermostat system that provides users with a score based on their energy usage. This system offers personalized tips for improvement, encouraging users to make better energy choices. By providing social proof through visual and audio cues along with lottery and community energy games, the system aims to foster6 a sense of community and shared responsibility for energy conservation.
Panagiota Karava, the Jack and Kay Hockema Professor of Civil Engineering, examines data collected at Purdue’s ReNEWW house, a “net-zero structure.” Karava received a grant to use smart devices to monitor energy use at homes in locations around Indiana. (Purdue University photo/Erin Easterling)
Scaling Up for Greater Impact
Panagiota's team has successfully deployed their system in over 200 households across 6 different locations in Indiana, through a strong partnership with a housing developer (BWI LLC), the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority (IHCDA), local housing agencies (New Albany Housing Authority), and the City of South Bend. The project has since expanded through new partnerships with HVAC manufacturers (Carrier), and utilities (Tipmont REMC) and the plan is to scale the project up, with the ultimate goal of deploying -the system to thousands of new and existing communities across the nation.
Commercialization Challenges and Opportunities
As Panagiota's team looks to the future, they are exploring the commercialization of their energy management product and are presenting it to different industry stakeholders. The team has filed a national patent, have received new funding and won awards for their work, including a prestigious Purdue Trask Innovation Award and an ASHRAE 2024 Best Paper Award, and are now focusing on how to bring their product to market.
Interdisciplinary Collaboration and Innovative Approaches
The success of Panagiota's project is rooted in its interdisciplinary nature, with experts from fields like smart buildings and community energy systems, machine learning, human-computer interactions, and behavioral and communication sciences, collaborating to develop the system. The team has conducted use-inspired research including Bayesian inference and game-theoretic decision making , to create dynamic predictive models that account for the complexities of human behavior and community dynamics.
Panagiota's passion for developing smart technology for buildings and communities and her commitment to improving people's well-being are evident in her work. Her project has the potential to have a significant impact on communities, empowering residents to take control of their energy usage, reduce their energy costs, and contribute to a more sustainable future.