Abstract: A key issue for the realization of the smart grid vision is the implementation of effective demand-side management. One possible approach involves exposing dynamic energy prices to end-users. A resulting problem on the user’s side is how to adaptively heat a home given dynamic prices. The user faces the challenge of having to react to dynamic prices in real time, trading off his comfort with the costs of heating his home to a certain temperature.
In this talk, I will propose a smart thermostat that learns the user's comfort-cost trade-off and heats the house in a semi-automatic way, reacting to the dynamic prices in real time. We are in the process of implementing this thermostat as a live application that we will test in a field experiment. We will install this thermostat in real homes and people will use the system for one month, being exposed to real-time electricity prices in a virtual market environment.
