How “OPTIMUS” is a city in terms of energy optimization? e-SCEAF: A web based decision support tool for local authorities

• Published in: Information fusion Vol. 29; pp. 149 - 161
• Main Authors: Papastamatiou, I., Doukas, H., Spiliotis, E., Psarras, J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.05.2016
• Subjects: 2-Tuple linguistic model; Decision support system; Energy assessment framework; Information fusion; Smart cities; Smart cities; Decision support system; Information fusion; 2-Tuple linguistic model; Energy assessment framework
• ISSN: 1566-2535; 1872-6305
• DOI: 10.1016/j.inffus.2015.10.002

•How “OPTIMUS” is a city or a specific sector in terms of energy optimization?•Web based decision support tool, named e-SCEAF, to assist local authorities.•The e-SCEAF is specialized for the city's municipal buildings.•Reflects energy indicators, policy context and smart infrastructure integration.•“Real life” application in municipal buildings of three different cities. Nowadays cities tend to become “Smarter”, usually disregarding the issues of energy efficiency and sustainability. Therefore, optimizing energy use in a city remains a challenge and respective decision support systems are important to guide local authorities toward that direction. This paper provides a holistic approach presenting a Smart City Energy Assessment Framework (SCEAF) along with a specific web based decision support tool, the so-called e-SCEAF, which can provide local authorities with fruitful results for assessing the energy behavior and performance of their city. The tool merges heterogeneous information, such as clearly quantifiable energy related indicators, the related city policy context performance and the integration of smart infrastructure. This multi-source information fusion is based on the 2-tuple linguistic representation model of Herrera and Martínez. This particular model has been widely used in decision problems and was mainly selected due to the fact that it provides linguistic results that are accurate and easy to understand by the cities’ local authorities. The performance, usefulness and effectiveness of the SCEAF framework and the e-SCEAF tool are tested on a real life application in three different cities, Savona (Italy), Sant Cugat del Vallès (Spain) and Zaanstad (The Netherlands). In this respect, the role of fusion methods and algorithms for merging multiple information will be evaluated in a “real life environment”.