A multi-objective home energy management system for explicit cost-comfort analysis considering appliance category-based discomfort models and demand response programs

Abstract Residential consumers can get the opportunity to render their energy usage responsive to time-varying prices by participating in demand response (DR) programs through home energy management systems (HEMSs). The consumer’s primary motivation behind utilizing a HEMS is to reduce cost, which entails a shifted or reduced power consumption associated with the impairment in daily comfort. In this regard, a HEMS needs to maintain the consumer’s comfort while minimizing his/her cost. Besides, a residential consumer may desire to use various appliances in a day. The managed operation of these appliances in a HEMS environment results in diverse types of discomfort peculiar to each appliance. Therefore, this study initially develops discomfort models in a comprehensive manner and then proposes a new multi-objective HEMS, aiming to bring cost savings to the consumer without considerable discomfort in his/her daily life under various operating conditions such as different pricing tariffs and stochastic scenarios. The results prove that the proposed HEMS conveniently achieves the optimal energy usage pattern of the household depending on consumer preferences and priorities. Moreover, it is revealed that a residential consumer can make an explicit cost-comfort analysis and appreciate a meaningful balance between his/her cost-saving and comfortable lifestyle.