WO2014023352A1

WO2014023352A1 - Method and device for managing of energy consumption in a home automation system

Info

Publication number: WO2014023352A1
Application number: PCT/EP2012/065582
Authority: WO
Inventors: Gargi Bag; Ewa Hansen; Tomas Lennvall; Larisa RIZVANOVIC; Judith Rossebø; Pia Stoll
Original assignee: Abb Research Ltd
Priority date: 2012-08-09
Filing date: 2012-08-09
Publication date: 2014-02-13

Abstract

The invention relates to a method, energy management device (28) and a computer program product for managing energy consumption of a home automation system (10) comprising a number of energy consumption entities (12, 14, 16), where each entity comprises a number of energy consumption devices (32, 34, 36, 38, 40) having operational settings. The energy management device obtains the actual energy consumption of an energy consuming entity of the home automation system, compares the actual energy consumption with a threshold corresponding to an instantaneous desired energy consumption of the entity and linked to an energy consumption constraint. If the actual energy consumption reaches the threshold, it then determines new operational settings for at least some of the energy consumption devices of the energy consuming entity, where the settings are being determined for adapting the energy consumption of the energy consuming entity to variations in the constraint, and finally applies the new operational settings.

Description

METHOD AND DEVICE FOR MANAGING OF ENERGY CONSUMPTION IN A HOME AUTOMATION SYSTEM

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to home

automation systems. More particularly the present invention relates to a method, energy management device and a computer program product for managing energy consumption of a home automation system.

BACKGROUND

A home automation system is a computer system

comprising energy consumption devices and associated devices like energy services interfaces (ESIs) . The configuration of these devices is typically done by a service technician on location once at the

commissioning of the home automation system. When the home automation system is configured, the configuration is not expected to be changed unless new energy consumption devices are added or removed. A user can change set-values of e.g. room temperature or lighting by interacting with room temperature- and lighting actuators .

Energy consumption values from energy meters connected to the home automation system can be shown at displays connected to the home automation system. However, the energy consumption in an energy consuming entity of the system, such as in an apartment, is not analyzed by the home automation system in relation to the home

automation system settings. As each household is individual, these settings might not be optimal from an energy efficiency point of view.

US 2001/0010032 describes an energy management system where actual power consumption is compared with

predetermined levels. The document also discusses energy consumption calculations based on new power levels . US 2010/0070101 discusses an energy management system where updated setting information is determined based on trigger data, like utility demand. The document also discusses energy reductions, see paragraph. However, there is still a need for improvement in the area of home automation systems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention addresses the problem of

providing an improved home automation system.

This object is according to a first aspect of the invention solved through a method of managing energy consumption of a home automation system comprising a number of energy consumption entities, each entity comprising a number of energy consumption devices having operational settings, the method being performed by an energy management device and comprising the steps of:

obtaining actual energy consumption of an energy consuming entity of the home automation system, comparing the actual energy consumption with a threshold corresponding to an instantaneous desired energy consumption of the entity and linked to an energy consumption constraint,

- if the actual energy consumption reaches the

threshold,

determining new operational settings for at least some of the energy consumption devices of the energy consuming entity, where the settings are being determined for adapting the energy consumption of the energy consuming entity to variations in the constraint, and

applying the new operational settings. This object is according to a second aspect of the invention solved through a energy management device for managing energy consumption of a home automation system comprising a number of energy consumption entities, each entity comprising a number of energy consumption devices having operational settings, the energy

management device comprising:

a calculating element configured to

obtain the actual energy consumption of an energy consuming entity of the home automation system, compare the actual energy consumption with a threshold corresponding to an instantaneous desired energy consumption of the entity and linked to an energy consumption constraint, if the actual energy consumption reaches the threshold,

determine new operational settings for at least some of the energy consumption devices of the energy consuming entity, where the settings are being determined for adapting the energy

consumption of the energy consuming entity to variations in the constraint, and

apply the new operational settings.

This object is according to a third aspect of the invention solved through a computer program product for managing energy consumption of a home automation system comprising a number of energy consumption entities, each entity comprising a number of energy consumption devices having operational settings, said computer program product being provided on a data carrier comprising computer program code configured to cause an energy management device to, when said computer program code is loaded into the energy management device, obtain the actual energy consumption of an energy consuming entity of the home automation system,

compare the actual energy consumption with a threshold corresponding to an instantaneous desired energy consumption of the entity and linked to an energy consumption constraint,

if the actual energy consumption reaches the threshold, determine new operational settings for at least some of the energy consumption devices of the energy consuming entity, where the settings are being determined for adapting the energy consumption of the energy consuming entity to variations in the constraint, and

apply the new operational settings.

The present invention has a number of advantages. It enables the determining of operation settings that better handles energy consumption constraints and constraint variations. The energy management device can easily suggest and perform home automation system settings updates for addressing constraints. It is furthermore possible to consider each energy consuming entity separately. The energy consumption of an energy consuming entity can in this way be optimized with regard to a constraint that is important for the user of the energy consuming entity. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will in the following be

described with reference being made to the accompanying drawings, where

Fig. 1 schematically shows a home automation system being connected to an energy service provider,

Fig. 2 schematically shows a block schematic of an energy management device,

Fig. 3 shows a number of method steps being performed by the energy management device, and

Fig. 4 schematically shows a data carrier with compute: program code, in the form of a CD-ROM disc, for

performing the steps of the method.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the following, a detailed description of preferred embodiments of a method, energy management device and computer program product for managing energy

consumption of a home automation system will be given.

Fig. 1 schematically shows a home automation system 10 being connected to the computer system 22 of an energy supplier or energy service provider. In order to provide this connection the home automation system 10 is provided with a gateway 18 connected to a gateway 24 of the energy supplier computer system 22 via a data communication network 20, such as the Internet.

The computer system 22 of the energy supplier also comprises an energy management server 26 connected to the gateway 24. In this way the energy management server 26 is able to communicate with devices in the home communication system 10.

The home communication system 10 comprises a data bus Bl . The above-mentioned gateway 18 is connected to this data bus Bl . A number of energy consumption entities 12, 14 and 16 are also connected to the data bus Bl . Here each energy consuming entity is an entity

associated with a group of energy consumption devices. An entity may be an entity such as a company. It may also be an entity corresponding to a household or rather the energy consumption devices of a household. These households may be households of an apartment building. However, they may also be the households in a number of houses, for instance a number of houses on the same street. A group of energy consumption devices is thus associated with such an energy consuming entity, where an energy consumption device may be a device such as a refrigerator, a washing machine, lamps, stereo, television etc. In short a device that consumes energy in the form of electricity. However, also a car charger may be an energy consumption device. It should also be realized that not all energy consumption devices may be provided together, such as in a flat of a household, but some may be provided in common areas of a building, for instance the car charger .

In fig. 1 there are shown five such energy consumption devices. A first energy consumption device 32, a second energy consumption device 34, a third energy

consumption device 36, a fourth energy consumption device 38 and a fifth energy consumption device 40.

These energy consumption devices 32, 34, 36, 38 and 40 are all associated with a first energy consuming entity 16 and are in this case all shown as being connected to an energy management unit 28. The energy management unit 28 may be provided in the form an energy services interface (ESI) . The connection between the energy management unit 28 and the energy consumption devices 32, 34, 36, 38 and 40 may here be a Konnex (KNX) connection. To the energy management unit 28 there is also connected a user interface 30, via which a user associated with the energy consuming entity, such as the owner of an apartment, may interact with the communication system. The energy consumption devices do also have actuators with settings that control their operations, such as the temperature they are to keep internally, the amount of light they are to provide, the amount of electric charge they are to give and the temperature they are to keep externally in the rooms of a home. These settings may also be of a binary type, such as if a device is to be on or off. An actuator is in fig. 1 included in the corresponding energy

consumption device and therefore not shown. Therefore the energy consumption devices are in the following considered to be described as having these operational settings. It should however be realized that the actuators may be stand-alone devices that are used for providing control signals that actuates or influences the operation of one or more energy consumption

devices. In this case the actuators apply the

operational settings

All these operations do consume energy. In the first entity 16 there is therefore also an energy meter 39 connected to the energy management unit 28. The energy meter 39, which may be a watt meter, then measures the energy consumed by the energy consumption devices of the entity. It furthermore measures the electrical power consumed by all devices of the entity. It is as an alternative possible that there is more than one energy meter, for instance one per energy consumption device. It is also possible that these energy meters are provided based on the location of energy

consumption devices. Energy consumption devices of an entity at one physical location, such as in an

apartment of the home automation network, may be provided with one corresponding energy meter, and energy consumption devices of the same entity at another location, such as in a basement or a garage, may be provided with another energy meter.

The energy management unit 28 of the first entity 16 is also connected to the data bus Bl . Other entities 12 and 14 are in a similar manner connected to the data bus via their energy management units. However, the details of these are left out in order to improve the understanding of the present invention. The energy management unit is in one embodiment of the invention also an energy management device. The energy management device may thus be provided in relation to, i.e. for, one or a single energy consuming entity. Fig. 2 shows a block schematic of one way of realizing an energy management device 41 implemented through an energy management unit. The energy management device 41 comprises a bus 42 and to this bus there is connected a first communication interface CI1 44 for connection to the data bus Bl, a processor 46, a program memory 48 as well as a second communication interface CI2 50 for communication with the energy consumption devices and the energy meter 39. The first communication interface 44 may be an Ethernet communication interface, while the second communication interface may be a KNX

interface. The second interface may also employ a wireless communication standard, for instance an industrial wireless communication standard such as Zigbee.

In the memory 48 there is provided software code which when being run by the processor 46 forms a calculating element 52.

A first embodiment of the invention will now be

described with reference also being made to fig. 3, which shows a flow chart of a number of method steps being performed in a method of managing energy

consumption in the home automation system 10.

The invention will now more particularly be described in relation to the energy consumption devices 32, 34, 36, 38 and 40 of the first energy consuming entity 16. It should however be realized that all entities may be handled in the same way according to the principles of the invention.

The energy consumption devices 32, 34, 36, 38 and 40 may here all have different operational settings decided by a user associated with the energy consuming entity 16. The user may be a user that is responsible or in charge of an agreement concerning the delivery of electrical power to the energy consuming entity 16. It can for instance be an owner of an apartment forming the energy consuming entity. The operational settings may be provide in order to obtain a desired

functionality, such as in order to charge an electric vehicle, keep a refrigerator at a desired temperature level, to light up an apartment or to keep a desired indoor temperature level in the apartment. Energy consumption values from energy meters connected to the home automation system 10 can then be shown at displays connected to the home automation system, such as via a display provided via the user interface 30. However, the energy consumption in an energy consuming entity has traditionally not been analyzed by the home automation system in relation to the operational home automation system settings, i.e. the operational settings of the energy consumption devices 32, 34, 36, 38 and 40 of the energy consuming entity 16. As each household is individual, with an own mix of devices and preferences regarding their operation, these settings might not be optimal when considering a constraint associated with the energy consumption, such as the price of energy, the amount of carbon emissions

associated with the energy consumed by the energy consuming entity or the availability of power. The invention is provided for addressing this issue.

The method may start or get triggered by the constraint reaching a first constraint threshold, which first constraint threshold may be used for determining that the constraint is severe. If for instance the

constraint is the price per unit of energy, then the steps performed below may be triggered by the price reaching a price threshold. If the constraint is based on carbon emissions, this first constraint threshold may be that the generation of energy reaches a carbon emission threshold. The calculating element 52 of the energy management device 41 may receive information about the constraint from the service provider, such as from the energy management server 26 of the service provider.

Thereafter the calculating element 52 obtains readings of the operational settings of the energy consumption devices 32, 34, 36, 38 and 40, step 56. In this

embodiment the obtaining is done through reading the operational settings of the energy consumption devices, which may be done through sending queries to these devices via the second communication interface 50 and receiving responses comprising the settings. As an alternative it is possible that the energy management device 41 has the settings stored in the memory 48. Then the calculating element 52 obtains the actual energy consumption of the energy consuming entity 16. This may involve obtaining at least one actual energy consumption reading, step 58, which may be obtained through reading the energy meter 39. The at least one actual reading may comprise readings from all energy meters of the energy consuming entity 16. This may also here be done through sending a query to a corresponding energy meter 39 and receiving a response with the reading. The reading may here be the reading at a specific point in time, such as the point in time that the first threshold is being reached.

The energy consumption reading is then compared with an energy consumption threshold, step 59, which threshold may correspond to an instantaneous desired energy consumption of the energy consuming entity 16. The threshold may furthermore be linked to the energy consumption constraint in that the comparison is only performed in case the constraint is deemed to be severe. The energy consumption threshold is thus set in relation to the desired instantaneous level. The threshold may be set equal to or differ from the desired instantaneous level. In this case it may be set to be higher and in one case significantly higher than the instantaneous desired energy consumption.

If the first energy consumption threshold has not been reached, step 60, the calculating element 52 returns and obtains energy consumption readings, step 58, while if it has, then new operational settings are

determined, step 62. These new operational settings are operational settings for at least some of the energy consumption devices 32, 34, 36, 38 and 40 of the energy consuming entity 16 and may then be provided for being presented to a user of the entity via the user

interface 30, step 64.

The new operational settings are determined based on the constraint. The constraint may have a time

dependency, i.e. it may have a variation in time. It is also possible that this variation is not known but predicted . A prediction may be obtained in the following way. The variations of the constraint may be predicted based on historical energy consumption data on a higher level, such as on a national level, weather data such as temperature and time data such as week day and time of day. The prediction may be provided by the service provider. In this way it is possible for the energy management device 41 to obtain a constraint having a variation in time, for instance as a curve. The

constraint will then have maximum and minimum values.

When determining the new operational settings, the calculating unit 52 adapts the energy consumption of the energy consuming entity to the variations of the constraint, which may be done in the following way. The energy consumption devices may have different load curves. The load or energy consumption of one type of energy consumption device may vary over time. At one instance in time of the operation of the energy

consumption device, it may consume a lot of energy, while at another it may consume significantly less. The load of this type of device may thus fluctuate. The load curve of another type of device may be essentially flat over time. This other type of load may thus be essentially constant. The calculating element 52 may here consider the individual load curves. It may also consider a total load curve, which is the sum of the loads in time or sum of the load curves of the

individual energy consumption devices. When determining operational settings the calculating element 52 may determine operational settings through postponing some operational activities, for instance activities that require a lot of energy, i.e. are energy intensive, until the constraint has changed so that the severity of the constraint is lowered. The constraint may for instance have a value that is below a second constraint threshold, in which case the constraint may have a value that is closer to a minimum than to a maximum. The severity of the constraint may thus be low if the constraint has a value that is closer to a maximum than to a minimum.

The new operational settings may for instance involve postponing the charging of a vehicle until the night and operate a washing machine after five o'clock in the afternoon, because at these times the energy

consumption on a national level may be low and

therefore also the constraint may be less severe. The new operational settings may also involve lowering the energy consumption of some device, such as lowering the temperature of heaters and the amount of light emitted by light sources. Through in this way considering the various load curves the calculating element 52 may determine a difference in energy consumption or an energy consumption change, step 66, associated with the new operational settings. The calculating element may then present the energy consumption change for the user via the user interface 30, step 67. This presentation may here involve the saving in cost or lowering of carbon emissions through the application of the new settings. If the new

settings are accepted by the user, step 68, then these are applied, step 70, which may involve the calculating element 52 sending the new settings to the energy consumption devices 32, 34, 36, 38 and 40 via the second communication interface 50. The new operational settings may thus be applied directly to energy

consumption devices by the energy management device 41. The new operational settings are thus used to actuate the energy consumption devices for adjusting the energy consumption of the energy consuming entity 16 to variations in the constraint. This may be accompanied by storing the new settings in the memory 48. However, in case the user does not accept the settings the calculating unit 52 may determine another set of operational settings and present them for the user.

This may be repeated a number of times until the user accepts a set of operational settings. However, if no presented settings are accepted, step 68, then the calculating unit 52 may end it's operation, step 71, i.e. it may stop determining new settings and only apply .

The desired instantaneous energy consumption and consequently also the first constraint threshold may be associated with or linked to different energy

consumption scenarios, such as seasonal scenarios like spring, winter, summer and autumn, which may require different operational settings. The scenarios may also comprise other types of scenarios, such as being away for the day, being away a prolonged time like a week or a month, being at home or entertaining guests. It is furthermore possible that the calculating unit stops to apply new operational settings and returns to the former operational settings in case the constraint drops below a third constraint threshold. Also this third threshold may be associated with a corresponding energy consumption scenario. It may thus differ for different scenarios.

It is furthermore possible that the energy consumption devices have different priorities, which may be set by the user. The operational settings of a device with lower priority may then be changed before the

operational settings of a device with higher priority. It is also possible that operational settings for high priority energy consumption devices are not changed at all. This can also be combined with scenarios. The priorities of the devices may differ between different scenarios. It can in this way be seen that the

calculating element may also determine the operational settings based on the priorities. It may thus determine new operational settings for an energy consumption device, for instance one performing an energy intensive activity, based on a comparison of the priorities. It is therefore also possible that new operational settings for the energy consumption devices are

determined in a rising priority order, starting with the lowest priority, where the settings for the energy consumption devices having the highest priority may only be determined as a last effort or not at all. It can thus be seen that in the first embodiment of the invention :

a. The energy management device formed by the energy management unit may have stored default energy consumption values for certain default home automation system setting scenarios for the energy consuming entity in the home automation system.

b. The energy management device may then read and store actual energy consumption values from energy meters in the home automation system

c. The energy management device may thereafter read and store current home automation system settings d. The energy management device, on the request of the user issued via the User Interface (UI), may compare actual energy consumption values coupled to actual home automation system settings with the stored default energy consumption values for certain default home automation system setting scenarios.

e. The energy management device may then

calculate, if energy consuming entity actual energy consumption is significantly higher than the default energy consumption, an update to the home automation system settings.

f . The energy management device may then present an update function to the home automation system settings together with corresponding expected energy savings via the energy management system user interface (UI) .

g. The energy management device may then, if the user accepts the update via the UI, perform the update of the home automation system settings. As mentioned earlier the energy management server may be implemented as the energy management device. In this case the energy management unit is a slave device reporting to the server. In this case the home

communication system may be connected to the external service provider with authority given by the user for the service provider to interact with the home

automation system on behalf of the associated energy consuming entity: a. The energy management unit may also in this case read and store actual energy consumption values from energy meters in the home automation system.

b. The energy management unit reads and stores current home automation system settings.

c. The energy management unit, on the request from the energy management server of the external service provider, may thereafter connect to the

external service provider and send home automation network settings, i.e. the current operational settings of it's energy consumption devices, and if the energy management server requests these, the stored energy consumption values or energy consumption readings. The energy management server, which thus forms an energy management device, may then perform an analysis and calculate new home automation system settings based on the same principles as described in relation to the first embodiment. These new settings may then be forwarded to the energy management unit for being presented to the user via the user interface.

e. If the new home automation system settings are accepted by the user, the energy management server may then send an update of the home automation system settings, i.e. the new operational settings, to the energy management unit.

f . The energy management unit may then perform the update of the home automation system settings.

The invention has a number of advantages. The home automation system is extended with the value of an energy management system that easily can suggest and perform home automation system settings updates for increased energy efficiency. It is furthermore possible to consider each energy consuming entity separately. The energy consumption of an energy consuming entity can in this way be optimized with regard to a

constraint that is important for the user of the energy consuming entity. This may furthermore be done through adapting the load variations of the energy consuming entity to the time variation of the constraint.

According to some variations of the invention also external service providers are given the opportunity of performing remote energy efficiency analysis and remotely issue home automation system settings updates for being optimized with regard to a certain constraint The energy management device may be provided in the form of one or more processors together with computer program memory including computer program code for performing their functions. As an alternative it may be provided in the form of an Application Specific

Integrated Circuit (ASIC) or Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) . This computer program code may also be provided on one or more data carriers which performs the functionality of the present invention when the program code thereon is being loaded into a computer or server. One such data carrier 72 with computer program code 74, in the form of a CD ROM disc, is schematically shown in fig. 4. Such computer program may as an alternative be provided on another server and

downloaded therefrom into the energy management device.

The invention can be varied in many ways. The

presenting of new settings and energy savings may be omitted. New operational settings do thus not have to be presented to and accepted by a user and may

therefore be applied directly without approval. The use of different scenarios may be omitted. The use of a first, second and/or third constraint threshold may also be omitted. It can therefore be seen that the present invention is only to be limited by the

following claims.

Claims

1. A method of managing energy consumption of a home automation system (10) comprising a number of energy consumption entities (12, 14, 16), each entity comprising a number of energy consumption devices (32, 34, 36, 38, 40) having operational settings, the method being performed by an energy management device (41) and comprising the steps of:

- obtaining (58) actual energy consumption of an energy consuming entity (16) of the home automation system,

comparing (59) the actual energy consumption with a threshold (T) corresponding to an instantaneous desired energy consumption of the entity and linked to an energy consumption constraint,

if (60) the actual energy consumption reaches the threshold,

determining (62) new operational settings for at least some of the energy consumption devices of the energy consuming entity, where the settings are being determined for adapting the energy consumption of the energy consuming entity to variations in the constraint, and

- applying (70) the new operational settings.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the operational settings are configured to actuate the energy consumption devices of the energy consuming entity to perform energy intensive activities when the severity of the constraint is low.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising providing the new operational settings for presenting (64) to a user of the energy consuming entity and applying them based on the user accepting (68) the new settings.

4. The method according to any previous claim, further comprising determining (66) the difference in energy consumption for presenting (67) to the user.

5. The method according to any previous claim, wherein the instantaneous desired energy consumption is linked to an energy consumption scenario of the energy consuming entity.

6. The method according to any previous claim, wherein the energy consumption devices have different priorities and the operational settings are determined also based on these priorities.

7. The method according to any previous claim, wherein the energy management device (41) is provided in a server (26) of an energy service provider network (22) connected to the home automation system, the method further comprising requesting an energy

management unit (28) of a corresponding energy

consuming entity to send current operational settings of its energy consumption devices, the obtaining of energy consumption comprises requesting the energy management unit to send energy consumption readings and the applying comprises sending the new network settings to the energy management unit for being applied on the energy consumption devices.

8. The method according to any of claims 1 - 6, wherein the energy management device (41) is provided in an energy management unit (28) of the home

automation system, the method further comprising obtaining (56) operational settings of the energy consumption devices of the energy consuming entity, the obtaining of energy consumption comprises reading the energy consumption and the applying comprises directly applying the new network settings on the energy

consumption devices

9. An energy management device (41) for managing energy consumption of a home automation system (10) comprising a number of energy consumption entities (12, 14, 16), each entity comprising a number of energy consumption devices (32, 34, 36, 38, 40) having

operational settings, the energy management device comprising :

a calculating element (52) configured to

consumption of the energy consuming entity to variations in the constraint, and apply the new operational settings.

10. The energy management device according to claim 9, wherein the operational settings are adapted to actuate the energy consumption devices of the energy consuming entity to perform energy intensive activities when the severity of the constraint is low.

11. The energy management device according to claim 9 or 10, the calculating element being further configured to provide the new operational settings for presenting to a user of the energy consuming entity and applying the settings based on the user accepting the new settings.

12. The energy management device according to any of claims 9 - 11, the calculating element being further configured to determine the difference in energy consumption for being presented to the user.

13. The energy management device according to any of claims 9 - 12, wherein the energy consumption devices have different priorities and the calculating element is further configured to the determine the operational settings also based on these priorities.

14. The energy management device according to any of claims 9 - 13, the energy management device being provided as a server (26) in an energy service provider network (22) connected to the home automation system, where the calculating element is further configured to request an energy management unit (28) of a

corresponding energy consuming entity to send current operational settings of its energy consumption devices, when obtaining energy consumption being further

configured to request the energy management unit to send energy consumption readings and when applying new settings being further configured to send the new network settings to the energy management unit for being applied on the energy consumption devices.

15. The energy management device according to any of claims 9 - 13, wherein the energy management device is provided as an energy management unit (28) of the home automation system and the calculating element is further configured to read operational settings of the energy consumption devices of the energy consuming entity, when being configured to obtain energy

consumption being configured to read the energy

consumption and when being configured to apply the new settings is configured to directly apply the new operational settings on the energy consumption devices.

16. The energy management device according to claim 15, further comprising a user interface (30) for interacting with a user.

17. The energy management device according to claims 15 or 16, wherein it is provided in relation to one energy consuming entity (16) .

18. A computer program product for managing energy consumption of a home automation system (10) comprising a number of energy consumption entities (12, 14, 16), each entity comprising a number of energy consumption devices (32, 34, 36, 38, 40) having operational

settings, said computer program product being provided on a data carrier (72) comprising computer program code (74) configured to cause an energy management device to, when said computer program code is loaded into the energy management device,

consumption of the energy consuming entity to variations in the constraint, and

apply the new operational settings.