Nikos Sakkas

Energy demand forecasting is practiced in several time frames; different explanatory variables are used in each case to serve different decision support mandates. For example, in the short, daily, term building level, forecasting may serve as a performance baseline. On the other end, we have long-term, policy-oriented forecasting exercises. TIMES (an acronym for The Integrated Markal Efom System) allows us to model supply and anticipated technology shifts over a long-term horizon, often extending as far away in time as 2100. Between these two time frames, we also have a mid-term forecasting time frame, that of a few years ahead. Investigations here are aimed at policy support, although in a more mid-term horizon, we address issues such as investment planning and pricing. In this paper, we develop and evaluate statistical and neural network approaches for this mid-term forecasting of final energy and electricity for the residential sector in six EU countries (Germany, the Netherlands...

Worldwide, buildings are one of the main energy consumers and the improvement of their energy performance has attracted great interest and has been typically related to the optimisation, both design and operational, of Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC), lighting and DHW systems, to innovation in building materials, as well as to the integration of renewable technology in buildings. More recently, occupant behaviour has received increasing attention. Occupants' interactions with the building systems influence their energy consumption in diverse ways. Their behaviour may affect energy use just as the systems and materials may do. Researchers identified and highlighted various aspects of this occupant behaviour and were gradually led to the conclusion that its effect might be worth investigating. This study has a twofold aim. First, to present a general conceptual framework to define, monitor and eventually change user behaviour in buildings. This framework is called "event-driven"; events are distinct moments in time associated with a potentially problematic behaviour, and the framework aims at tracking, acting upon and reporting on these events. Second, we aim to demonstrate and discuss the application and the savings achieved by means of our proposed approach and in the case of such behavioural events, in the Challenger building of Bouygues, in France.

ABSTRACT This paper presents the objectives and current activities in the course of an FP7 project, entitled EnergyWarden (www.energywarden.net). The project broadly aims at an integrated view of energy management and renewable technology, as deployed in the building domain. EnergyWarden will deliver an integrated toolset including three distinct modules: A Simulator (EW-S), to run long and short time simulations of the renewable energy production at the hourly, daily and yearly level, a controller (EW-C) to control energy flows locally at the building or at a district level and a user information module (EW-U) to deliver a detailed profile of the building energy production and use, to provide a real time calculation of CO2 savings and to assess energy module performance, based on real time data and according to existing standards.

: In the new global economy, where value and differentiation are the essential ingredients for business success, an organisation's knowledge is often the company's primary value proposition. Increasingly more companies, even in traditional, manufacturing sectors, are expanding the knowledge management concept externally: they explore new ways to put enterprise knowledge in the hands of customers, suppliers, and partners and share with them their intellectual capital. This study examines how Internet-based, networked infrastructures can support supply chain entities participation in emerging knowledge markets. WIT, a software toolset developed to facilitate knowledge sharing in the wood/furniture sector, is used as a case study.

In the new global economy organisation's knowledge is often the company's primary value proposition. Increasingly more companies are expanding the knowledge management concept externally: they explore new ways to put enterprise knowledge in the hands of customers and share with them their intellectual capital. The basic orientation and findings of a European Esprit research project (WIT) aiming at the development and deployment of co -operative and Internet based tools to facilitate knowledge sharing across all business entities of the wood/ furniture sector are being presented. It is shown how technologies of this kind can serve entities of the supply chain put significant part of their intellectual capital "on-line" in the form of "knowledge products", while the strategic and operational benefits of such technologies for the knowledge market are discussed.

This paper presents the objectives and current activities in the course of an FP7 project, entitled EnergyWarden (www.energywarden.net). The project broadly aims at an integrated view of energy management and renewable technology, as deployed in the building domain. EnergyWarden will deliver an integrated toolset including three distinct modules: A Simulator (EW-S), to run long and short time simulations of the renewable energy production at the hourly, daily and yearly level, a controller (EW-C) to control energy flows locally at the building or at a district level and a user information module (EW-U) to deliver a detailed profile of the building energy production and use, to provide a real time calculation of CO2 savings and to assess energy module performance, based on real time data and according to existing standards.

... Richardson and Zaki (7) after analysis of their experimental data on spherical particles, observed that the superficial velocity (V) could be related to the expanded granular bed porosity through the following equation: V/Vi = f" (7) ... Nora = (3n/4">c««,Dal (1-f >fvV3p,_/d ( 1 6 ) ...

ABSTRACT This paper provides a cross discipline critical review of the various efforts undertaken to assess the detachment mechanisms in a liquid fluidised bed. Points of agreement as well as those of divergence are stressed out, and attempts are made to clarify the discrepancies frequently observed. An experimental work aiming at the removal of clay particles from the surface of fine salt grains is presented, and its results are treated in the light of the preceded discussion. The influence of velocity gradients, shear stress and particle attrition on detachment are discussed. A realistic model is provided for the prediction of attrition in particle beds during fluidisation.

Every year the EU commits an amount of around €12 billion to fund so-called framework programmes (FPs), which aim at supporting research and innovation (R&I) activities in the EU. The first question is: Do we really need this investment? My answer is a firm yes and I will shortly only argue on the rationale of publicly funded research and innovation. A second question is whether this investment yields the maximum return and, if not, what may be needed to optimise it. Answering this question is the principal aim of this book.

There are many daily decisions we make on the basis of reason and accumulated knowledge. There are also a lot of other arrangements that we opt for with recourse to market instruments and cost benefit considerations. Disregarding the importance of rationalism or contesting the efficiency of the markets has historically resulted in poverty, oppression and multi-fold other disasters. However, both these strands of decisions represent only a limited set of the whole set of our resolutions. The vast majority remaining are made on the basis of purely subjective criteria, personal preferences, individual tastes.

Individualism is our claim to these many preferences, to our ability to practice them, fully and freely, with no authorization from any third party, on only one condition: that they are non-aggressive. Individualism claims that such differences are natural and welcome, and that the resulting diversity is a key condition for social progress.

Collectivism, stemming from big, inflated and utterly irrational ideas, about some fake national, religious, racial or class supremacy, has throughout history been the fiercest opponent of individualism. Collectives, however, besides having nurtured various versions of murderous collectivism, carry also great positive value for their members. It is for this reason that few people would ever consider living outside them. Yet, regulating the relationship between our individualism and our free collective membership is not an obvious or a frictionless process.

My point in this book is that for all who love individualism but also do not consider living in isolation, outside society, there is one tool that carries the best potential to moderate this subtle balance between individualism and citizenship.

Its name is democracy. And there are several reasons, which I here try to investigate, to rediscover it and make the most out of it. Even more so, as I identify as a European, one who fervently subscribes to the unfolding EU project.

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Democracy again! is a cross fertilization of thoughts, knowledge and experiences accumulated in interaction with people all over Europe and beyond. Despite being inspired by the recent misfortunes of Greece, I confess that it was mainly the EU present and future that I predominantly had in mind when compiling this book. I remain with the hope that readers will also see and appreciate the relevance.

The book is available in Amazon