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discussion of research findings
The future of smart houses depends on technology improvement, as described under residential energy management drivers. One driver is energy poverty, described by González-Eguino (2015) as “the absence of sufficient choice in accessing adequate, affordable, reliable, high-quality, safe, and environmentally benign energy services to support economic and human development”. Energy poverty is the lack of clean energy, according to Monyei et al. (2018). With most homes not using the energy they get, energy poverty might limit energy usage choices. According to González-Eguino (2015), energy shortages impede heating and cooking and negatively impact individual and community development. According to Monyei et al. (2018), energy poverty causes people to use biomass for cooking and heating, particularly in developing nations.
In many nations families rely on an uninterrupted energy supply, which is why the term ‘energy security’ is used. Energy security is the availability, accessibility, cost, and acceptance of energy in residential structures, according to Cherp and Jewell (2014). Energy insecurity and price fluctuations drive the need to adopt and apply latecomer strategies to reduce environmental impacts through abundant renewable energy resources and address energy access (Yazdanian and Mehrizi-Sani 2014; Mahmoud et al. 2019). According to the literature, this is one of the reasons for household EMSs since emerging and some established nations need energy security owing to population growth. Energy is essential for human progress, and the expanding population has strained energy supplies. Kaur et al. (2020) suggest that population growth has increased energy consumption, with heating and cooling loads contributing the most, followed by lighting loads. Expensive energy use causes global warming, expensive prices, and resource depletion.
High levels of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, ozone, water vapour, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), and nitrous oxide create global warming, which drives energy management (Al-Ghussain 2019). It can also raise sea levels, threatening biodiversity, coastal land, precipitation patterns, droughts, and floods (Al- Ghussain 2019). In South Africa, coal is burned to generate energy, which releases greenhouse gases and contributes to global warming. EMSs can reduce energy use and resource depletion by improving\ efficiency. Peak-hour power outages are another reason EMSs minimise energy consumption. Load shedding/power cuts may be necessary if power demand exceeds supply (Siecker et al. 2022). Detailed assistance from energy specialists drives EMSs to minimise residential building energy use. Rocha et al. (2015) recommend training and incentivising building managers to use the information and communications
technology of EMSs to respond in the real-time market and weather situations.
Since energy has high taxes, reducing them drives energy management. EMSs may reduce energy taxes, which promotes renewables, according to Van Leeuwen et al. (2017). Van Leeuwen et al. (2017) state that energy consumption and investments stimulate the use of EMSs because they minimise energy use and boost return on investment. EMSs provide complete analysis, optimisation, and forecasting of energy power used to improve facility performance. EMSs use renewable energy sources like solar to boost property value and residential building functioning.
Conclusions
Successful energy conservation efforts have shown the economic, social, and environmental benefits of energy conservation in buildings. One of the initiatives found in the literature is the use of EMSs in residential buildings. Although many initiatives are used to mitigate the high energy consumption in households, not all of them are regarded as EMSs, as outlined in theme one. Successful energy conservation initiatives demonstrating the environmental, financial, and social benefits of energy conservation in buildings have been realised. The findings illustrated that various drivers lead to implementing EMSs, which are also opposed by barriers to them that need to be conquered. The study reviewed publications on EMSs within a limited period (years 2013–2023) and focused only on the residential sector. An area of future study can involve the application of EMSs in different sectors globally.
references
Al-Ghussain, L. 2019. Global warming: review on driving forces and mitigation. Environmental Progress and Sustainable Energy, 38 (1), 13-21. https://doi.org/10.1002/ ep.13041
Aman, S., Simmhan, Y. and Prasanna, V. 2013. Energy management systems: State of the art and emerging trends. IEEE Communications Magazine, 51 (1), pp. 114-119. https://doi.org/10.1109/MCOM.2013.6400447
Arboleya, P., Gonzalez-Moran, C., Coto, M., Falvo, M.C., Martirano, L., Sbordone, D., Bertini, I. and Pietra, B.D. 2015. Efficient energy management in smart micro-grids: ZERO grid impact buildings. IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, 6 (2), pp. 1055-1063. https://doi.org/10.1109/TSG.2015.2392071
Balta-Ozkan, N., Davidson, R., Bicket, M. and Whitmarsh, L. 2013. Social barriers to the adoption of smart homes. Energy Policy, 63, pp. 363-374. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. enpol.2013.08.043
Beaudin, M. and Zareipour, H. 2015. Home energy management systems: A review of modelling and
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