EnergyNow! 2022

AI applications, require large amounts of electricity. There are currently hardly any guidelines or technical solutions for energy-efficient programming. Are there solutions for clean IT?

Each person can help to save energy, but how depends strongly on the individual way of living. A tool/chatbot asks for details about the housing situation (number of people in household, apartment/house, heating source, square meters etc.) and maybe other aspects of life and gives personal advice about energy savings: what are biggest consumers, where is biggest potential to save energy, how much energy can be saved etc.

How to create Awareness As a country, we want to save energy. What are the most effective ways to create awareness and motivate people to act? What can the past and research tell us about effective and ineffective methods? How much would the potential savings of these methods be and in which scenarios would that be enough to avoid a supply gap?

Forecast with Scenarios As a citizen or politician, I would like to get a feeling for the dependencies between factors like precipitation, number of French power plants under revision etc. and a potential supply gap. This could be a scenario analysis or an interactive dashboard in which factors can be changed by hand

Behavior of the population in case of an electricity interruption: distribution of the load in the time outside the interruption (EV charging, laundry,…)? How can the simultaneity factor be reduced during these times? Automatic loads (fridge, cooling systems, heatpumps,…): which is their load and operation outside the interruptions? how much energy can be effectively saved by the cyclical interruptions (taking into account e.g. shiftable loads, efficiency reduction in refrigerators, loads that are automatically switched on again, etc.)?

Can you think of a way to effectively visualise consumption data to communicate saving potentials? It could be for households, businesses, universities..

The measures to reduce gas consumption are well known. The Federal Council outlined its plans in two draft ordinances at the end of August and sent them out for consultation. For example, in the event of a gas shortage, swimming pools or saunas may no longer be heated if they are connected to the gas grid. The same applies to parts of buildings that are not used on a daily basis, such as holiday homes.

The regulation that gas may no longer be used for heating above 19 degrees has caused a particular stir. In extreme cases, energy offenders who disregard this rule could even face prison sentences. At least, that is what the National Supply Act stipulates. However, it is up to the cantons to monitor compliance with the regulations, the Federal Council stated at the end of August.

The canton of Zurich is demanding that the Federal Council restrict not only the use of gas, but also electricity at the same time. Swisspower, an association of municipal and regional energy suppliers, takes a similar view. The supply situations for gas and electricity are closely linked. If there is a shortage of gas, there is a risk that electricity will also run out, says Swisspower.  

Make operational optimization well known and popular Operational optimization (Betriebsoptimierung (BO)) is a practice that helps to save energy used in running office buildings, workshops, factories etc. According to experts, companies can quickly save 10-15% of their energy expenditure by performing a BO project and implement a few often simple and cheap measures or adaptations. However, many companies - especially small and medium-sized companies (KMU) - don't know about BO or have not yet used it - even though many actors offer consultation or even access to subsidies for performing a BO. How can KMU and companies in general be convinced to perform a BO as soon as possible and thus save energy in their operations?

Are Digitalization, Energy and Smarter Building as secrets ingredients for any recipes to face this Upcoming Winter and a sustainable way of living? 

Data is Gold, Smart building generate a lot of it, even more when combine with data's from more oncoming energy monitoring devices and digitalization of energy system. Challenge: How could we optimize Building and Campus energy consumption by learning from their user’s habits and using smart monitoring energy devices?

Awareness is important. When people know how much they consume and when do they consume it they might be willing to change their behaviour, resulting in potential energy conservation - which should be able to be quantified.

Energy prices are currently very high, and many citizens, especially the socially weaker, as well as companies, especially manufacturing industries, are demanding the intervention from the federal government/canton. Some political and economic actors demand a reduction of wholesale prices or a price cap for electricity. Furthermore, the federal government is calling on citizens and companies to make voluntary savings. The cause of the sharp rise in prices is an imbalance between supply and demand. Since supply cannot be increased quickly enough, demand must be reduced. A discount or a price cap on energy purchases has a counterproductive effect in this respect, as there are no incentives for voluntary saving. Reducing energy consumption and lowering the associated energy costs presents a dual challenge. How can we solve the dual challenge by introducing new tariffs on our electricity bills?

How much energy (electricity, heat?) could be generated if as many ASVZ classes as possible were able to contribute? // "Are you strong enough for a cold shower afterwards?"

In addition to the consumption tracker, a comparison with the average consumption in your area would be useful. This would allow you to compare and check how much you consume and then make adjustments.  

Could one use temperature sensors and motion detectors to maintain the minimum temperature and heat it only when required?

So far, the proposed measures from the state and the cantons have focused on lighting and heating. A third major energy sink has so far received little attention: the food sector. Not only is this a fundamental resource for which we need to guarantee availability, but also one that has great potential for energy savings -- some of which are flexible, and some of which may be simply inevitable. For instance, the question of whether I prepare a cold or hot meal, or whether I use the oven or the stove, is a flexible area. However, if we are confronted with frequent half-day outages, it is no longer a question of whether I use my refrigerator or not; this is an inflexible area. A lack of refrigeration alternatives incurs a high amount of food waste, causing even more energy consumption. While some non-cooling conservation techniques (using salt or sugar) are widely known, many such techniques that were used centuries ago have drifted into oblivion (for instance, the conservation of root vegetables deep inside the soil with sand).   

What could be the 3 best steps to be taken by Zuerichers as a whole to reduce their energy (electricity and other) consumption for this winter? Focus should be more on creating awareness and bottom-up approach rather than a top-down law passed from the authorities.  

How can the Swiss help their marginalised and homeless population to keep warm this winter?