i4Energy

Who We Are

Information technology for energy — i4Energy is a growing community of experts and innovators who are defining and carrying out a research agenda to yield IT solutions for our energy future.

Energy is one of the grand challenges of our age. Where do we get it? Can we use it efficiently, intelligently? Will it be there when we need it? The answers rely on an energy infrastructure that communicates constantly, and in all directions — from energy’s very sources to the buildings where we use it most. Read More

PROJintro sutardjaDaiHall

There’s no place like home, and i4Energy researchers know it, turning their own new building into a laboratory for leading-edge demand response approaches. Sutardja Dai Hall is CITRIS headquarters on the UC Berkeley campus. The goal: to develop intelligent control for its electricity load, and reduce peak demand by at least 30%.

Sutardja Dai Hall, CITRIS headquarters at UC Berkeley, has been outfitted as a demand-response technology testbed. The goal: to develop intelligent control of its electricity load, and reduce peak demand by at least 30%.

PROJ sutardjaDaiHallStarting with the building’s modern energy-management system, the project’s strategy is to mine increasingly granular data via extensive sub-meters in the building, monitoring everything from central lighting and HVAC to distributed energy use at every outlet. An energy “gateway” will make offices smart, gathering that data, communicating with individual occupants, and negotiating with building controls for the best response to the user’s demand.

The project aims to move us from manual control of energy usage — each occupant’s flip of a switch or crank of a thermostat — to fully automated response and control, based on better and better data.

Research Lead(s)

David Auslander, Professor, Mechanical Engineering, UC Berkeley

Sponsors

Siemens
Siemens
Citris
Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS), UC Berkeley
Berkeley Lab
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
 Recovery.gov
Recovery.gov

Project Links