The purpose of an energy system is to provide energy services: a warm house, light on our desk, clean clothes etc. In the past forty years, we have greatly improved our knowledge on these end-use applications, but we still fail to track it on a regular basis.

Nowadays, we are able to gather data on the use of these applications with among others the installation of smart meters and smart thermostats in households and buildings. This may enable us to tackle the lacking knowledge about where and what energy is used for, how it is developing over time, how it is related to the behavior of people and how efficiently it is used. In addition to the smart thermostat like Toon, new sources of information are becoming more and more available for the systematic and precise measurement of energy use. Think about the emergence of The internet-of-things and equipment with individual energy use profiles in the energy management systems of buildings. In addition, unstructured data, e.g. over social media channels, may provide useful insights. The big challenge now is to gain the useful insights from this data and apply it to increase the energy efficiency while maintaining consumer satisfaction.

The Delft Smart Energy Efficiency platforms aims to tackle these challenges by promoting and consolidating education and research in fields related to energy efficiency at Delft University of Technology . To reach this, the platform engages on interfaculty collaboration within the University and external collaboration with both private and public parties. 

Examples of research and education topics within the smart energy efficiency theme are:

• How can big data be used to get a better understanding of what energy is used for and the behaviour of energy users
• How can new sensor and control technologies be used to improve the efficiency of energy use
• How can social media be used to improve interaction and communication about energy

We look forward to provide you, either student, researcher or industry professional, a platform to exploit your interest in smart energy efficiency through education and research at Delft University of Technology or the future events of the Delft smart energy efficiency platform.