I-Corps: Improving Energy Management using Surface Temperature Forecasts

University Of Maryland, College Park, College Park MD

Investigators

Abstract

Forecasts of urban heating and energy demand for cities in different climate zones are essential for energy resources management. Accurately predicting electricity need will help energy companies, financial companies, insurance companies, and local government to manage energy resilience. This I-Corps team proposes to develop a web-service that forecasts surface temperature, electricity need, and energy efficiency in big urban regions. A web-based, high resolution (10m) skin temperature forecasting service will be a highly useful input for electricity load forecasting, building energy use efficiency assessment, and energy insurance. The prediction will be on a daily, weekly, monthly and on an annual basis. These forecasts can be directly used to guide energy distribution management, and improve energy grid efficiency, security and resilience. Identifying the current energy-load forecasting approaches used in energy-industry and their limits is the first priority for this project. This I-Corps project has two goals: Market Evaluation and Product Development. For market evaluation, the team will evaluate the energy industry needs and demand through 100+ market interviews, and through development and partner review of a prototype product demonstration. For product development, using a NOAA Global Forecasting System (GFS)weather forecast model, NASA satellite remote sensing observations, and the previously developed urban skin temperature forecasting and downscaling techniques, this team proposes to develop a web-service that forecasts daily seasonal surface temperature and energy demand for urban regions. These forecasts can be directly used to guide energy distribution management, and improve energy grid efficiency, security and resilience.