In this study, a home energy management system structure is developed in order to determine the optimal commitment of a smart-household. Two types of loads are explicitly modeled: non-thermostatically controllable (electric vehicle, shiftable appliances) and thermostatically controllable loads (air conditioner, electric water heater). Furthermore, small-scale self-production is considered by means of a photovoltaic system. A test case using realistic data is presented in order to investigate the combined effect of the aforementioned assets under real-time pricing demand response.

Increasing environmental concerns have motivated efforts for the modernization of the power system recently. As a result, the distribution system (DS) has been given specific importance. Especially, residential end-users have been rendered active trough the introduction of several assets such as electric vehicles, energy storage systems and self-production units. Although many opportunities emerge from the spreading of these so-called "smart" households, the DS may be negatively affected if appropriate coordination techniques are not developed. At this point, the distribution system operators (DSO) that are responsible for the operation of the DS need to intervene. The smart households struggle to minimize their daily electricity procurement cost by exploiting dynamic pricing tariff schemes. On the other hand, the DSO aims to minimize the active power losses of the DS. DS reconfiguration is a core element of the daily operational practice of DSO and should be considered in the development of coordination strategies. In this study, a two-side interaction framework is proposed in order to guarantee that both the smart households and the DSO sufficiently achieve their individual goals. State-of-the art computing techniques are also used in order to render the proposed formulation tractable for real-life applications.

During the day November 26, 2014, a scheduled cleanup of the woods took place around the GOA-UVa aerosol measurement station located at the campus of the University of Beira Interior (40 degrees 16' 30 '' N, 7 degrees 30' 35 '' W, 704m a.s.l.), Covilha, Portugal. This cleanup included excessive vegetation removal during the morning, using fossil fuel-burning machinery, and burning of the vegetation during the afternoon. In situ measurements of aerosol optical properties were made and this study aims the characterization of the evolution of aerosol properties during the day. The optical parameters were monitored using a 3-wavelength nephelometer and a 3-wavelength particle soot absorption photometer. Selective sampling/exclusion of the coarse particles was done each 5 minutes. The scattering and absorption Angstrom exponents as well as the single scattering albedo were derived and fully analyzed. The scattering and absorption coefficients increased dramatically during the event, reaching values as high as 720.3 Mm(-1) and 181.9 Mm(-1), respectively, for the green wavelength and PM10 size fraction. The spectral behavior of these parameters also changed wildly along the day and an inversion of the slope from positive to negative in the case of the single scattering albedo was observed.