THE REFIT PROJECTDr Steven Firth

My background in building data

• PhD – 5 minute monitoring of 100 domestic PV systems

• CaRB project - temperature monitoring in 250 homes

• CaRB project – appliance monitoring in 20 homes

• 4M project – temperature monitoring in 250 homes

• REFIT – detailed monitoring in 20 homes

• HES consultancy work – appliance monitoring in 250

homes

• EFUS 2011- peer reviewer

• Stock modelling: EHCS, EHS, Census, DUKES, DECC

regional statistics, NEED

The REFIT project

• Background• Funded by Research Councils UK – the RCUK Energy Programme

• £1.5m funding over 3.5 years, May 2012 to October 2015

• Employs 5 researchers 100% Full Time

REFIT: Personalised Retrofit Decision Support Tools for UK Homes

Using Smart Home Technology

The REFIT project team

We are trying to understand…

How data from smart meters and smart homes can be made more

personalised, valued and trustworthy

How to provide personalised retrofit advice to homeowners

How consumers accept, adapt and use Smart Home technologies

Publications to date• The role of Programmable TRVs for Space Heating Energy Demand Reduction in UK Homes. Badiei, A., Firth, S.K. and

Fouchal, F., 2014. Proceedings of Building Simulation and Optimisation 2014, UCL, London, 23-24 June 2014.

• Developing suitable models for domestic buildings with Smart Home controls. Dimitriou, V., Firth, S.K., Hassan, T., Kane, T.

and Fouchal, F., 2014. Proceedings of Building Simulation and Optimisation 2014, UCL, London, 23-24 June 2014.

• Power disaggregation of domestic smart meter readings using Dynamic Time Warping. Elafoudi, G., Stankovic, L. and

Stankovic, V., 2014. ISCCSP-2014 IEEE International Symposium on Communications, Control, and Signal Processing, Athens, Greece, May 2014.

• Decision support systems for domestic retrofit provision using smart home data streams. Firth, S.K., Fouchal, F., Kane,

T., Dimitriou, V. and Hassan, T., 2013. Presented at: CIB W78 2013 The 30th International Conference on Applications of IT in the AEC Industry.

Move Towards Smart Buildings: Infrastructures and Cities, 9th-12th October 2013, Beijing, China.

• Who uses smart home technologies? Representations of users by the smart home industry. Hargreaves, T., Wilson, C.

and Hauxwell-Baldwin, R., 2013. Paper presented at the European Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ECEEE) 2013 Summer Study,

Toulon/Hyères, France. June 2013.

• Smart homes for smart practices? Using technology biographies to understand how smart home technologies

influence social practices. Hauxwell-Baldwin, R., Hargreaves, T. and Wilson, C., 2013. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the

Royal Geographical Society and Institute of British Geographers (RGS-IBS). London, UK. 26-28 August 2013.

• Detecting household activity patterns from smart meter data. Liao, J., Stankovic, L. and Stankovic, V., 2014. IE-2014 10th IEEE

International Conference on Intelligent Environments, Shanghai, China, July 2014.

• Power disaggregation for low-sampling rate data. Liao, J., Elafoudi, G., Stankovic, L. and Stankovic, V., 2014. 2nd International Non-

intrusive Appliance Load Monitoring Workshop, Austin, TX, June 2014.

• Improving Energy Efficiency with Smart Home Appliance Monitoring, Seeam, A., Liao, J., Stankovic, L. and Stankovic, V., 2013.

Proceedings of EEDAL’13.

• Using smart homes: themes, linkages and disconnects in research on smart homes and their users. Wilson, C.,

Hargreaves, T. and Hauxwell-Baldwin, R., 2013. Joint Science, Society and Sustainability (3S) Research Group and Tyndall Centre Working Paper:

University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK. 3S Working Paper Series number 2013-23.

• Smart homes and their users: a systematic analysis and key challenges. Wilson, C., Hargreaves, T. and Hauxwell-Baldwin, R.,

In Press. Personal and Ubiquitous Computing.

Smart Meters, Smart Data, Smart Growth – DECC, 2015

The REFIT Household Study• A 2.5 year study of ‘real-world’ homes

• 20 local households recruited

• Install full range of monitoring and

Smart Home equipment

• Develop retrofit decision support tool

• Capture user engagement with Smart

Home technologies

• Test out retrofit advice strategies

Recruitment, visits and surveys

Dwellings (n=20)

Building survey (n=40)

Dwelling-level questions

Room-level questions

Photos

Floorplans

Sensor placements (n~1,500)

Visits (n~150)Interviews, videos, co-

design

Data

collection

‘map’

REFIT Building survey

• Access database

Appliance monitoring, Current cost - Vera box

HOBO temperature sensors

1-wire ibutton temperature sensors

RWE controls

Groundfloor First floor

Z-wave appliance controls

Mains electricity and gas consumption

Sensor measurements

• Files

Examples of datasets

• UK Government’s Household Electricity Survey

• Files

• Access database

Dwellings (n=20)

Spaces (n=324, 186 monitored)

Hobo pendant sensors (n=250)

Air temperature @ 30 mins (n=250)

Readings (n=6,155,958)

Hobo U12 sensors (n=165)

Air temp, RH, light intensity @ 15 mins (n=165)

Readings (n=5,400,949)

EZ Motion sensors

Motion, air temp, light intensity @ 1

minReadings

RWE motion sensors

Motion, light intensity @ event

timesReadings

RWE room thermostats

Air temperature, RH @ event times

Readings

Radiators (n=251, 246 monitored)

iButton sensors (n=802)

Surface temperature @ 30

mins (n=802)

Readings (n=6,253,459)

RWE TRVsAir temperature, RH, set-points @

event timesReadings

Meters (n=40, 39 monitored)

SMS gas sensors (n=19)

Gas volume @ 30 mins (n=19)

Readings (n=465,312)

Currentcostelectricity sensor

(n=20)

Power @ 6 seconds (n=20)

Readings (n= 152,661,400)

Appliances (180 monitored)

Currentcost plug sensor (n=180)

Power, temperature @ 6 seconds (n=360)

Readings (n= 1,373,952,600)

Doors / windowsRWE contact

sensorsOpen/close @

event timesReadings

Sensor

readings

‘map’

Dwellings (n=20)

Spaces (n=324, 186 monitored)

Hobo pendant sensors (n=250)

Air temperature @ 30 mins

(n=250)

Readings (n=6,155,958)

Hobo U12 sensors (n=165)

Air temp, RH, light intensity @ 15 mins (n=495)

Readings (n=5,400,949)

EZ Motion sensors

Motion, air temp, light intensity @

1 minReadings

RWE motion sensors

Motion, light intensity @ event times

Readings

RWE room thermostats

Air temperature, RH @ event

timesReadings

Radiators (n=251, 246 monitored)

Meters (n=40, 39 monitored)

Appliances (180 monitored)

Doors / windows

Sensor

readings

‘map’

Open access

• REFIT Hobo sensor readings

• https://lboro.figshare.com/

• Files

• Access database of open-access data

• REFIT Power readings

• https://pure.strath.ac.uk/portal/en/datasets/refit-electrical-load-

measurements(31da3ece-f902-4e95-a093-e0a9536983c4).html

Data analysis for journal papers

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The REFIT dataset

Data analysis

Heating practices

Occupancy

Change in heat practices with

advanced heating controls

Building modellingCalibrating SAP,

lumped parameter, EnergyPlus

Applications

Savings from advanced heating

controls

Optimal control strategies for

heating

Impact of possible retrofits

Analysis

Inspiring Winners Since 1909

Thank you!

Dr Steven Firth

s.k.firth@lboro.ac.uk