Energy management using non-intrusive load monitoring techniques – State-of-the-art and future research directions

Abstract

In recent years, the development of smart sustainable cities has become the primary focus among urban planners and policy makers to make responsible use of resources, conserve the environment and improve the well-being of the society. Energy management is an integral part of the smart sustainable cities development programme which involves conscious and efficient use of available energy resources towards attaining sustainability and self-reliance on energy systems. Building sector is one of the key sectors that utilize more energy. Therefore, efforts are being made to monitor and manage energy consumption effectively in residential and commercial buildings. In recent years, non-intrusive load monitoring (NILM) technique has become a popular and emerging approach to monitor events (on/off) and energy consumption of appliances/electrical utilities in buildings using single energy meter. The information about the energy consumption at the appliance level would help consumers to understand their appliance usage behavior and take necessary steps for reducing energy consumption. In this paper, we present the comprehensive review of state-of-the-art algorithms that have been explored by the researchers towards developing an accurate NILM system for effective energy management. Finally, potential applications of NILM in different domains and its future research directions are discussed.