The 2008 Climate Change Act set legally-binding carbon reduction targets. Demand side management (DSM) includes energy use reduction and peak shaving and offers significant potential to reduce the amount of carbon used by the electricity grid. The demand side management (DSM) schemes that have tried to meet this challenge have been dominated by engineering-based approaches and so favour tools like automation (which aims to make shifting invisible) and pricing (which requires customer response) to shift demand. These approaches tend to focus on the tools for change and take little account of people and energy-use practices. This thesis argues that these approaches are limited and therefore unlikely to produce the level of response that will be needed in future. The thesis therefore investigates the potential for time-shifting domestic energy demand but takes a different angle by trying to understand how people use energy in their daily lives, whether this use can be shifted and some of the implications of shifting it. The centrepiece of the work is an empirical study of eleven households energy-use practices. The interdisciplinary methodology involved in-house observations, interviews, photographs, metered energy data and disruptive interventions. The data was collected in two phases. Initially, a twenty-four hour observation was carried out in each household to find out how energy was implicated in everyday practices. Next, a series of three challenges were carried out, aimed at assessing the implications of disrupting practices by time-shifting food preparation, laundry and work/ leisure. A practice theory approach is used to shift the focus of attention from appliances, tools for change, behaviour or even people, to practices. The central finding of this work is that practices were flexible. This finding is nuanced, in the light of the empirical research, by an extended discussion on the nature of practices; in particular, the relationship between practices and agency and the temporal-spatial locatedness of practices. The findings demonstrate that, in this study at least, expanding the range of demand response options was possible. The research suggests numerous possibilities for extending the potential of practices to shift in time and space, shift the energy used in practices or substitute practices for other non-energy-using practices, though there are no simple technological or behavioural fixes . More profoundly, however, the thesis concludes that infrastructures of provision , such as the electricity grid and the companies that run it, underpin and facilitate energy-use practices irrespective of the time of day and year. In this context technology-led demand response schemes may ultimately contribute to the problem they purport to solve. A more fundamental interrogation of demand and the infrastructures that serve it is therefore necessary and is almost entirely absent from the demand response debate.

Energianvändningen inom bostadssektorn har stadigt ökat och verkar inte minska trots energieffektiva apparater. Genom att bygga lågenergibostäder försöker bostadsbolagen minska energianvändningen, vilket också sker, men endast vad gäller uppvärmning och varmvatten. Syfte med avhandlingen är att öka kunskapen kring hushållens energianvändning i passivhus med fokus på hushållens aktiviteter. Intervjustudier har utförts med hushåll och bostadsbolag för att utröna hur de materiella förutsättningarna påverkar vardagsaktiviteter i hushållen. Utifrån tidsgeografiska begrepp analyseras några vardagliga hushållsprojekt: mathållning, klädvård och rekreation. Begreppet energiordning används för att påvisa hur aktiviteters genomförande påverkas av resurser, restriktioner och möjligheter av olika slag, inklusive elektricitet. Eftersom varje hushåll är unikt kommer också energiordningarna i hushållen att se olika ut vilket påverkar värmekomforten i bostaden. Passivhuskonceptet som sådant påverkar inte aktiviteterna i nämnvärd grad, men hushållen bevarar gärna den värme som uppstår i och med olika aktiviteter genom att öppna dörrar och ugnsluckor för att sprida värmen i bostaden. En slutsats från studien är att eftersom alla hushåll har unika energiordningar behöver också de materiella  resurserna anpassas så att olika handlingsalternativ blir möjliga. Genom att ta del av hushållens erfarenheter av olika energiordningar kan bostadsbolagen få tillgång till nya idéer och anpassa de materiella förutsättningarna till hushållens behov så att energieffektivt boende också inbegriper hushållens aktiviteter. / Energy use in the residential sector has gradually increased and does not seem to be decreasing in spite of energy efficient appliances. By building low energy homes, housing companies are trying to reduce energy use, and to some extent they are succeeding, although the reductions are confined to heating and hot water. The aim of the thesis is to increase knowledge about household energy use in passive houses focusing on household activities. Interviews were conducted with households and public housing companies to investigate how material conditions, such as the flats and the appliances, affect daily activities in the home. Based on time-geographic concepts, a few everyday household projects are analyzed: cooking, care of clothing and recreation. The concept of energy orders is used to show that the realization of activities is influenced by various kinds of resources, including electricity, and the constraints and opportunities related to them. Since each household is unique, the energy orders also look different, which has an influence on the thermal comfort in the home. The passive house concept as such does not affect household activities in a profound way, but the households try to preserve and spread the spill heat generated in various activities by opening doors to rooms and doors of appliances such as the oven to distribute the heat throughout the flat. One conclusion from the thesis is that, because all households have unique energy orders, material resources also need to be adapted so that activities can be performed in a variety of ways. By taking advantage of household experiences, housing companies may gain access to new ideas and improve functionality so that material conditions suit household needs. By taking advantage of household experiences, housing companies may gain access to new ideas and improve functionality so that material conditions in energy efficient housing are designed to suit a broad range of household needs.

Les systèmes de refroidissement des véhicules continuent à se développer et devenir de plus en plus complexes. Ceci introduit des nouveaux problèmes dus aux interactions des composants et les perturbations du système. Avec la montée des prix des carburants; les développeurs et les compagnies cherchent à améliorer la consommation en respectant les normes d’émission. Une partie de l’énergie produite par le moteur est utilisé par les composants du circuit de refroidissement. L’utilisation d’auxiliaires électriques est une manière de réduire ces pertes parasites, mais ce n’est pas la seule solution. Des études récents proposent que un control plus adaptes des composants peux réduire la consommation de carburant. Actuellement, le groupe Volvo en essayant d’améliorer la performance du système de refroidissement des camions a installe des nouveaux composants pour la gestion thermique du moteur. Néanmoins, des problèmes ont été identifie lors d’essais véhicule. Une meilleure compréhension du système et de l’implémentation de composants est nécessaire pour limiter les effets non voulus. Le système de refroidissement d’un poids lourd a été étudié grâce à l’outil Bond Graph. Puis des nouvelles stratégies de control sont introduites : commande prédictive, commande par platitude, commande sans model et commande avec model réduit. Ces méthodes ont été implémentées dans une plateforme de simulation sur Matlab/Simulink. Les gains de consommation obtenue à partir de simulations sont entre 0.5 et 0.9%. Une analyse structurelle de l’architecture actuelle est présentée. D’après les conclusions de cette analyse, des propositions pour la modification de l’architecture du circuit sont évalués. / The increasing complexity of engine cooling systems results in added interactions and disturbances to the performance. Besides, non-propulsion loads (fan, water pump…) draw a significant percentage of the engine’s power thus lowering the vehicle’s fuel efficiency. Recent studies have shown that by controlling components the efficiency can be improved by adjusting fan speed according to cooling needs, coolant flow, and oil flow. Currently, the Volvo group in order to optimize the performance of their truck’s cooling systems had installed new thermal management components. However, problems were found while testing control strategies and a better understanding of the interaction between components is required to prevent this from happening again. In this work, the bond graph approach has been applied for the study of the cooling system of a Heavy duty vehicle and has enabled subsystem interactions to be identified. Based on a simplified model issued from the bond graph, several control strategies have been built. These controllers are based on different control approaches: model predictive control, flatness control, model free control and model free control with reduced order model. These controllers were implemented in a simulation platform in the Matlab/Simulink environment. Results of the implementation of the new advanced control strategies are given. Fuel economy gains ranged between 0.5 and 0.9 %. A structural analysis of the current architecture is also proposed aiming at the optimization of the system. Given the insights from the analysis, an assessment of new concepts for the cooling system architecture is proposed.

Face à l'augmentation du prix du carburant et des exigences légales rigoureuses sur les émissions de gaz à effet de serre ces dernières années, les fabricants de camions doivent s'interroger davantage sur les nouvelles mesures techniques pour être plus compétitifs sur le marché. Dans ce contexte, l'électromobilité est l'une des approches les plus prometteuses pour répondre aux exigences ci-dessus, où sa solution principale est l'hybridation électrique du groupe motopropulseur. Parallèlement à cette solution, une autre solution technique de l'électromobilité, l'électrification auxiliaire qui apparaît récemment, devient aussi une solution attrayante non seulement pour le milieu universitaire, mais aussi pour les entreprises de l'automobile. Cependant, l'intégration de ces deux solutions dans un véhicule peut donner lieu à un problème de commande du système beaucoup plus compliqué, notamment en terme de gestion de l'énergie. L'objectif de ce travail est de concevoir une approche appropriée pour la conception de la commande auxiliaire électrifiée, qui peut gérer d'une part la stratégie de commande du groupe motopropulseur hybride électrique et, d'autre part, améliorer l'efficacité énergétique globale du véhicule. Tout d'abord, le travail se concentre sur un seul auxiliaire électrifié typique - le système d'alimentation en air. Pour ce cas simple, la modélisation et le contrôle à base d'énergie basés sur le contrôle prédictif (MPC) sont développés afin de minimiser la consommation d'énergie / l'efficacité de cet auxiliaire le long d'un cycle de conduite. En soulignant les difficultés à atteindre l'objectif en matière d'efficacité énergétique en considérant uniquement des unités auxiliaires, l'approche se concentre ensuite sur l'analyse d'impact du système auxiliaire sur l'efficacité énergétique globale du véhicule. La première étape de cette analyse propose une méthode générale pour simplifier le contrôleur de groupe motopropulseur de HEV / PHEVs. Ensuite, une méthode basée sur l'optimisation est présentée et appliquée sur un modèle de véhicule simplifié, qui contient le contrôleur de groupe motopropulseur simple obtenu à partir de l'étape ci-dessus. Cette méthode d'optimisation, qui est un contrôle en mode hors connexion et basée sur la méthode de programmation dynamique, permet de déterminer l'économie d'énergie maximale réalisable du véhicule lors de l'application d'une stratégie de contrôle avancée sur le système auxiliaire électrifié. De plus, certaines idées / règles pour concevoir le contrôle auxiliaire sont également tirées des résultats obtenus avec la méthode ci-dessus. Pour une mise en oeuvre en ligne de ces concepts, un contrôle multi-agent est finalement adopté pour la commande du système auxiliaire électrifié (EAS). Sur la base des résultats de l'étape d'analyse d'impact et d'un modèle simple de l'EAS, trois paramètres de contrôle pour l'EAS (centralisé, hiérarchisé et distribué) sont étudiés et discutés. Enfin, différents algorithmes pour ces paramètres de contrôle sont fournis, puis comparés pour indiquer les avantages et les limites de chaque algorithme. / Facing to the increase of fuel price and stringent legal requirements on the greenhouse gas emission in recent years, truck manufacturers have to investi-gate more on new technical measures to be more competitive on the market. Within this context, electromobility rises as one of the most promising approaches to answer to above requirements, where its principle solution is the electric hybridization of powertrain. In parallel with this solution, another technical solution of electromobility- the auxiliary electrification that appears recently becomes also an attractive solution for not only the academic community but also the automotive companies. However, the integration of these two solutions together in a vehicle can give rise to a much more complicated system control problem, especially in term of energy management. The objective of this work is to figure out an appropriate approach for designing the electrified auxiliary control, which can cope with the control strategy of the electric hybrid powertrain on one hand, and can improve the overall energy efficiency of the vehicle on the other hand. Firstly, the work focuses on only one typical electrified auxiliary- the air supply system. For this simple case, energy-based modeling and control based on predictive control (MPC) are developed in order to minimize the energy consumption/efficiency of this auxiliary along a driving cycle. By pointing out the difficulties for reaching the target on the energy efficiency when considering only auxiliary units, the approach focuses then on the impact analysis of the auxiliary system on the overall vehicle‘s energy efficiency. The first step of this analysis proposes a general method to simplify the powertrain controller of HEV/PHEVs. Then, an optimization-based method is presented and applied on a simplified vehicle model, which contains the simple powertrain controller obtained from the above step. This optimization method, which is an offline con-trol and based on the dynamic programming method, allows us to determine the maximal achievable energy saving of the vehicle when applying an advanced control strategy on the electrified auxiliary system. Additionally, some ideas/rules for designing the auxiliary control are drawn as well from the results obtained with the above method. Toward an online implementation of these concepts, a multi-agent based control is finally adopted for controlling the electrified auxiliary system (EAS). Based on the results of the impact analysis step and a simple model of the EAS, three control settings for the EAS (centralized, hierarchical, and distributed) are studied and discussed. Finally, different algorithms for these control settings are provided, and then compared to point out the advantages and limitations of each algorithm.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-23T14:04:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Jairo Pinto de Oliveira.pdf: 2727767 bytes, checksum: 3b1352014d87848112176e085bb84c8d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-12-10 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / Effluents are released daily into water bodies without any treatment with high levels of oil and grease (OG) and are a huge environmental problem. These residues are potentially available may be used for energy recovery, such as oil usage for the production of biodiesel. As the biggest barrier to the production of biodiesel involves the cost of raw materials, grease traps of restaurants, industries and wastewater treatment plants can be used as feedstock for biofuel production, since they have large amounts of oil and grease without cost. However, residual oils and greases contain high levels of free fatty acids (FFA) and as the preferred route for the production of biodiesel transesterification is alkaline, may be formed soap as a final product, impairing the separation of glycerol and decreasing the reaction yield. Thus, the acidic and enzymatic transesterification can present as promising alternatives, since it can catalyze the modification of both triglycerides and free fatty acids. The objective of this study was to investigate the possibility of using four types of oily waste sanitation (skimmings of grease from a University Restaurant, a Food Industry, a Station Wastewater Treatment and Sludge pits and septic tanks); characterize the physicochemical properties of oils and greases extracted and evaluate processes involving generation of biodiesel acid catalyst (H2SO4) and enzyme (immobilized Candida antarctica). The residues studied showed high levels of oil and grease and physicochemical characterization showed high levels of acidity, saponification and humidity. Were detected and quantified the major saturated and unsaturated fatty acids by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). The production of biodiesel from raw materials from grease traps showed high levels of conversion, greater than or equal 90%, which shows that both catalysts (H2SO4 and lipase Candida antarctica) are presented in the efficient esterification of raw waste acidic. The best conversion was found to be 96.5% using the lipid material from the grease trap the University Restaurant UFES catalyzed enzymatically at 50 ° C and molar ratio of 1:9 (oil: alcohol) / Efluentes são lançados diariamente em corpos d água sem nenhum tipo de tratamento com elevados teores de óleos e graxas (OG) e constituem um enorme problema ambiental. Estes resíduos potencialmente disponíveis podem ser utilizados para o aproveitamento energético, como o uso de óleo para a produção de biodiesel. Como a maior barreira para produção de biodiesel envolve o custo de matéria prima, caixas de gordura de restaurantes, indústrias e de estações de tratamento de efluentes podem ser utilizados como matéria prima para produção de biocombustível, pois apresentam grandes quantidades de óleos e graxas sem nenhum custo. No entanto, óleos e graxas residuais contêm altos teores de ácidos graxos livres (AGL), e como a via preferencial para a produção de biodiesel é a transesterificação alcalina, pode ocorrer a formação de sabão como produto final, prejudicando a separação do glicerol e diminuindo o rendimento da reação. Desta forma, a transesterificação enzimática e ácida podem se apresentar como alternativas promissoras, visto que podem catalisar a modificação tanto de triglicerídeos como de ácidos graxos livres. O objetivo deste trabalho foi verificar a possibilidade de utilização de quatro tipos de resíduos oleosos do saneamento (Escumas de caixas de gordura de um Restaurante Universitário, de uma Indústria de Alimentos, de uma Estação de Tratamento de Efluentes e de Lodos de Fossas e Tanques Sépticos), caracterizar as propriedades físico-químicas dos óleos e graxas extraídos, bem como avaliar processos de geração de biodiesel envolvendo catalisador ácido (H2SO4) e enzimático (Candida antarctica imobilizada). Os resíduos estudados apresentaram altos teores de óleos e graxas e a caracterização físico-química mostrou elevados índices de acidez, saponificação e umidade. Foram detectados e quantificados os principais ácidos graxos saturados e insaturados por Cromatografia Líquida de Alta Eficiência (CLAE). A produção do biodiesel a partir das matérias primas provenientes de caixas de gordura apresentaram altos níveis de conversões, maior ou igual 90%, o que demonstra que ambos os catalisadores (H2SO4 e a lipase Candida antarctica) apresentam-se eficientes na esterificação de matérias primas residuais ácidas. A melhor conversão encontrada foi de 96,5% utilizando o material lipídico proveniente da caixa de gordura do Restaurante Universitário da UFES catalisado enzimaticamente a 50ºC e razão molar 1:9 (óleo:álcool)

Energy use associated with tourism has rarely been studied, despite a potentially considerable contribution to global or national energy demand and concomitant greenhouse gas emissions. In New Zealand, tourism constitutes an increasingly important economic sector that is supported by the Government to induce further economic growth. At the same time New Zealand is facing the challenge of reducing currently increasing fossil fuel combustion and carbon dioxide emissions. As a response, this study investigated the contribution tourism makes to energy use in New Zealand. In particular it has examined the role of the three main tourism subsectors (transport, accommodation, and attractions/activities), and different domestic and international 'tourist types'. Seven separate data analyses provided inputs for building a model based on 'tourist types' from which energy use in the New Zealand tourism sector could be estimated. Tourism was found to contribute at least 5.6% to national energy demand, which is larger than its 4.9% contribution to GDP in 2000. Transport, in particular domestic air and car travel, was identified as the dominant energy consumer. Within the accommodation sub-sector, hotels are the largest energy consumers, both in total and on a per visitor-night basis. Of the three sub-sectors, attractions and activities contribute least to energy use, however, activities such as scenic flights or boat cruises were recognised as being energy intensive. As a result of larger visitor volumes, domestic tourists contribute more to energy consumption than international tourists. Domestic and international tourists types differ in their energy consumption patterns, for example measured as energy use per travel day. Tourist types that rely on air travel are the most energy intensive ones, for example the domestic 'long air business' travellers or the international 'coach tourists'. The importance of international tourists' energy use will increase, given current growth rates. There are many options to decrease energy use of the tourism sector, with the most effective ones being within the energy intensive transport sub-sector. Increasing vehicle efficiencies and decreasing travel distances appear to be the most promising measures. This study argues that energy use depends largely on tourists' travel behaviour. Changing behaviour is possible but is postulated to be very difficult, and further research is needed to better understand tourists' motivations, expectations and decision-making. Only then, can strategies be developed and implemented to alter travel behaviours to better balance energy use, other environmental impacts and economic yield. Such a balance is a crucial consideration in the search for more sustainable forms of tourism.

Interest in accounting for environmental impacts of products, processes, and systems during the design phase is increasing. Numerous studies have undertaken investigations for reducing environmental impacts across the product life cycle. Efforts have also been launched to quantify such impacts more accurately. Life cycle energy consumption and carbon footprint are among the most frequently adopted and investigated environmental performance metrics. As efforts continue to incorporate environmental sustainability into product design, struggles persist in concurrent consideration of environmental impacts resulting from the manufacturing processes and supply chain network design. Thus, the objective of this research is to present a framework for reducing product cradle-to-gate energy consumption and carbon footprint through simultaneous consideration of manufacturing processes and supply chain activities. The framework developed in this thesis relies on unit process modeling, and is demonstrated for production of a bicycle pedal. It is shown that simultaneous consideration of manufacturing and supply chain processes can impact decision-making and improve product environmental sustainability at the design stage. The work presented contributes to the state of the science in sustainable design and manufacturing research. In addition, a point of departure is established for the research community to move current efforts forward for concurrent consideration of multiple stages of the product life cycle in pursuit of environmental, economic, and social sustainability. / Graduation date: 2012

Inom sjukvården används – precis som överallt där människor sover – sängkläder av hygienskäl. Problem med smittspridningar av typen multiresistenta bakterier (MRSA) och spridning av andra sjukdomar har drivit företag som Cellcomb i Karlstad AB till att utveckla engångssängkläder för att förhindra detta. Engångssängkläderna är skyddade av en biofilm som ska ge ökat skydd mot bakterier och fungerar som en barriär så att inte vätska tränger igenom. Problemet är att det inte finns mycket till underlag för hur engångssängkläderna står sig mot vanliga sängkläder ur miljösynpunkt. I dagsläget använder sjukhus traditionella sängkläder till sina patienter och sedan transporteras dessa till tvätteri och tvättas. Att tvätta och torka sängkläder är energikrävande och ett alternativ till detta skulle kunna vara att använda engångssängkläder. En förenklad LCA gjordes för att ta reda på om sängkläder tillverkade av bomull och polyester eller engångssängkläder tillverkade av polypropylen alternativt viskosmaterialet Tencel är det mest miljövänliga. För att ta reda på det gjordes studiebesök och data samlades in genom en litteraturstudie och från företag. Resultaten visade att i ett grundfall med Centralsjukhuset i Karlstad var energianvändningen för de tvättbara sängkläderna lägre än Tencel och försumbart lägre än polypropylen. Flera fall med känslighetsanalyser gjordes för att undersöka hur indata påverkade resultaten. Fallen visade att det kan variera vilket av alternativen som blir mest gynnsamt, framför allt när det gäller vilken typ av energi tvätteriet använder. Engångssängkläderna av Tencel visade sig vara bäst när det gällde andel förnybar energi följt av de tvättbara sängkläderna och sist polypropylen. Ur ett ekotoxicitets- och vattenanvändningsperspektiv blev båda engångssängkläderna mer gynnsamma än de tvättbara sängkläderna. Två slutsatser kan dras utifrån den här studien: de tre alternativen är likvärdiga energimässigt utifrån energianvändning, andel förnybar energi och de fallstudier som gjorts, men att engångssängkläderna står sig bättre när det gäller ekotoxicitet samt vattenanvändning. Den andra slutsatsen är att resultaten är fallberoende. En utökad studie skulle kunna göras med fler viktiga miljöparametrar och fler känslighetsanalyser. / In healthcare – as in any other place where people sleep – beddings are used for hygiene reasons. Problems with spreading of bacteria diseases such as multi resistant bacteria (MRSA) and various other diseases have pushed companies like Cellcomb i Karlstad AB to develop disposable beddings in order to prevent this. These disposable beddings are protected with a biofilm which serves as a barrier, preventing liquids to pass through. The problem is that there is not much information about how these beddings perform from an environmental perspective. At present, hospitals are using traditional beddings for their patients and are then transported to laundries for washing. This is an energy intensive process and as an alternative, disposable beddings could be used. A simplified LCA was used to find out if beddings made out of cotton and polyester or disposable beddings made out of polypropylene or a viscose material called Tencel was the most favourable from an environmental perspective. To achieve this, various study visits were performed along with a literature study and data collection from companies. The results showed that for a basic case performed with Centralsjukhuset i Karlstad the washable beddings used less energy than Tencel and negligibly less energy than polypropylene. Several case studies were performed in order to examine how different data could alter the results. The case studies showed that which of the alternatives became the most favourable varied depending on the case, especially regarding which kind of energy was being used in the laundry. The disposable beddings made out of Tencel proved to be the best alternative regarding the use of renewable energy, followed by the washable beddings and last polypropylene. From a perspective of eco toxicity and water use both of the disposable beddings turned out more favourable. Two conclusions could be drawn from this study: the alternatives are equally favourable regarding energy use, renewable energy use and the case studies that were performed, but the disposable beddings are more preferable concerning eco toxicity and water use. The second conclusion is that the results depend on which case is studied. An expanded study could be performed using more environmental parameters.

Current federal and provincial efficiency standards for residential water heating are based solely on the tested efficiency of individual water heating devices. Additional energy expended or saved as the water cycles through the home is not taken into account. This research, co-funded by British Columbia’s Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources (MEMPR), is a first step toward the Province’s goal of developing a new energy efficiency standard for water heating systems in new construction. This groundbreaking new standard would employ a “systems” approach, establishing guidelines for new construction based on the total energy used for water heating within the building envelope The research team has developed a Simulink computer model which, using a one-minute time-step, simulates 24-hour cycles of water heating in a single-family home. The objectives of this thesis are to use that model to simulate a variety of water heating technology combinations, and to devise methods of utilizing the resulting data to evaluate water heating systems as a whole and to quantify each system’s relative energy impact. A metric has been developed to evaluate the efficiency of the system: the system energy factor (SEF) is the ratio of energy used directly to heat water over the amount of energy drawn from conventional fuel sources. The CO2 impact of that energy draw is also considered. Data is generated for cities in three different climates around BC: Kamloops, Victoria and Williams Lake. Electric and gas-fired tank water heaters of various sizes and efficiencies are simulated, along with less traditional energy-saving technologies such as solar-assisted pre-heat and waste water heat recovery components. A total of 7,488 six-day simulations are run, each representing a unique combination of technology, load size, location and season. The resulting data is presented from a variety of angles, including the relative impacts of water heater rating, additional technology type, location and season on the SEF of the system. The interplay between SEF and carbon dioxide production is also examined. These two factors are proposed as the basis for devising performance tiers by which to rank water heating systems. Two proposals are made regarding how these tiers might be organized based on the data presented here, though any tiers will have to be re-evaluated pending data on a wider range of technology combinations. A brief financial analysis is also offered, exploring the potential payback period for various technology combinations in each location. Given current equipment and energy costs, the financial savings garnered by the increase in energy efficiency are not, in most cases, found to be sufficient to justify the expense to the homeowner from a purely fiscal perspective. Additional changes would need to take place to ensure the financial viability of these technologies before large-scale adoption of systems-based standards could be employed. / Graduate

Ett centralt problem i strävan efter att minska energianvändningen i hushåll genom beteendeförändringar är att energi till stora delar är en osynlig produkt. Avhandlingen strävar efter att utveckla kunskap som kan bidra till mer hållbar utveckling genom att analysera tre företeelser som på ett konkret sätt synliggör energi och energirelaterat beteende: ett lokalt värmesystem, en s.k. Power Aware Cord och en dagboksmetod. Hur människor förstår sin energianvändning analyseras med hjälp av en modifierad version av den domesticeringsteori som utvecklats av Silverstone et al (1992). I centrum står paradoxen att de visualiserande företeelserna riskerar att själva osynliggöras genom att de domesticeras. Värmesystemet har haft en bristande funktion, vilket har varit den faktor som mest effektivt visualiserat systemet. Solfångarnas visuella dominans i områdets arkitektur har bidragit till att medvetandegöra solen som energikälla. Ett teknikrum och olika experter har också medvetandegjort själva värmesystemets existens. Såväl systemet som helhet som hushållens egen del i detta har visualiserats. Power Aware Cord liknar en vanlig grendosa, men den visar elanvändningen (effekten) hos den utrustning som kopplas till den. Energin visualiseras med hjälp av ett blått ljus i sladden vars intensitet anpassas efter watttalet som passerar genom sladden. Power Aware Cords styrka ligger i att den bidrar till att apparaters energianvändning visualiseras. Tidsdagboken visualiserar hushållsmedlemmarnas vardagliga aktiviteter på ett bredare plan än enbart i relation till energianvändning. Analysen visar att den redan osynliga resursen energi, som blivit än mer osynliggjort genom domesticering, kan avdomesticeras genom olika former för visualisering. Visualiseringsformerna riskerar dock att själva domesticeras. För att dessa ska ha varaktig effekt behövs strategier för att undvika detta. / One problem in promoting sustainable energy use is that energy is taken for granted. Energy as resource needs to be made visible. This dissertation aims to develop knowledge that can contribute to more sustainable development by analyzing different ways to visualize domestic energy systems. Three different forms of visualization are analyzed: a locally situated heating-system, the Power Aware Cord, and a diary method. How people understand their energy use is analyzed using a modified version of domestication theory as developed by Silverstone et al. (1992). Another focus is the paradox that forms of visualization themselves risk becoming invisible by virtue of being domesticated. The heating system still does not function as intended, and the non-functioning of the heating system has been the most effective means of visualizing the system. The solar collectors are visible and are a dominant element of the area’s architecture; this has helped visualize, make people aware of, and confer an understanding of the sun as an energy source. A technical control room and technicians have also helped visualize the existence of the heating system. The system as a whole, and the households’ own parts of it, has been visualized. The Power Aware Cord is the general shape of an extendable power strip, with the additional integration of voltage-measuring electronics and electroluminescent wire. This additional wire contains a phosphor layer that glows when an altering current is introduced. The cords’ strength lies in visualizing the household energy use of particular electrical devices. The time diary method visualizes the household members’ individual and inter-related ctivity patterns in a broader, more general way. The analysis shows that the already invisible resource energy, which has been made doubly invisible through domestication, can be de-domesticated through the domestication of forms of visualization. At the same time, the forms of visualization themselves risk being made invisible by being domesticated; for forms of visualization to have any lasting effect, strategies for avoiding this must be developed.