Smarter Cars, Homes, and Grids: Case Stud­ies in Opti­mal Energy Management

The future of energy holds fas­ci­nat­ing chal­lenges and oppor­tu­ni­ties. The chal­lenge: As society's size and energy appetite grow, we must seek solu­tions that facil­i­tate pen­e­tra­tion of renew­able energy and enhance effi­ciency across the trans­porta­tion, build­ing, and power sys­tem sec­tors. The oppor­tu­nity: Low-cost sensing/actuation and the per­va­sive­ness of Internet-access enable a new era of cyber-enabled, model-based, data-driven, opti­mized energy management.

This sem­i­nar focuses on energy man­age­ment prob­lems across three out­wardly zoom­ing use-cases: cars, build­ings, and the elec­tric grid. Namely, we explore how real-time traf­fic data can enhance plug-in hybrid elec­tric vehi­cle fuel econ­omy. Next we dis­cuss energy man­age­ment in a home with rooftop solar and second-life bat­tery stor­age. Finally, we dis­cuss con­trol of flex­i­ble load pop­u­la­tions, and vehicle-grid inte­gra­tion. A com­mon theme through­out this talk is lever­ag­ing opti­mal con­trol the­ory, dynamic sys­tem mod­els, and real-time data streams to design energy man­age­ment sys­tems across a mul­ti­tude of scales.

Speaker: Scott Moura, UC Berkeley