Problem

Target

Under the Energy Efficiency Directive (2012/27/EU) energy companies have to achieve yearly energy savings up to 1.5% of annual sales to final consumers. Although buildings’ occupants (energy end-users) seem to be gaining greater awareness of the value and need for sustainable energy practices, they do not behave in a more energy-conscious way. Existing solutions tend to be complicated, excluding buildings’ occupants from the process of understanding how the building works in terms of energy efficiency.

The overarching goal of ATOM is to design, develop and validate user-centered applications, which will empower energy end-users to engage in achieving energy efficiency, using an open, secure, privacy-respectful, configurable, scalable cloud based big data infrastructure. This multi-disciplinary big data environment will integrate heterogeneous types of data (open data, sensor/IoT etc.), combined with emerging AI (machine learning algorithms), distributed ledgers (Blockchain technology) and a digital reward scheme through alternative currency.

Tools

Benefits

Behavioural change applications (the “ATOM Energy Apps”) are envisaged, accessible via smartphones, tablets and computers, which will facilitate energy end-users to (i) know how much energy is consumed in total and what is the contribution of the specific end-user and other peers to that (“M&T” app); (ii) get personalized recommendations of action plans for energy conservation and load shifting, along with an estimation of their impact on energy use and user comfort (“Actions” app); (iii) be motivated towards behavioural change for energy conservation (“Reward” app).

ATOM will provide a “user – centric” framework for energy companies, local / regional authorities and third parties (ICT developers and other organisations offering energy products) to empower energy end-users to take an active attitude in their energy usage. ATOM aims at transforming the social environment in a building to make people aware of the value of energy production / energy savings, and the importance of their collaboration, unlocking a potential for 12TWh energy saved in Europe.