Intelligent Load Scheduling in Cognitive Buildings: A Use Case

In the last few years, many appliances are spreading into our houses and are daily used. Such equipment significantly improves the quality of life of people, but their use, when not well regulated, can bring a needless increment in the electricity bill. Such an increment could be mitigated by using intelligent scheduling policies that guide the users towards correct exploitation of electric devices so optimizing their use while, at the same time, saving energy, money, and time. This chapter proposes a case study in which a cognitive scheduling approach is used. Such a case study, implemented in the context of the COGITO project, is devoted to automatically scheduling electric loads in houses according to user preferences, self-produced energy, and variable energy costs.