How can data analytics optimize energy consumption in OR?

Some source, such as: - Smart Meters: Can provide real-time data on energy consumption. - IoT Devices: Sensors and devices in machinery and equipment collect data on performance and energy usage. - Historical Energy Bills: Analyzing past bills reveals consumption patterns and trends. - Weather Data: External conditions impact energy needs; integrating weather data aids in predictive modeling. - Production Records: Understanding production schedules and output helps correlate energy usage with operational activities. - Utility Data: Data from energy providers helps understand grid demand and pricing structures. Access to these diverse data sources can enhance the accuracy of energy consumption analysis in operational research.

This entails collecting and integrating data from various points such as energy meters, environmental sensors, and operational systems. By analyzing this data, organizations can gain insights into energy usage patterns, identify inefficiencies, and develop strategies to reduce waste, leading to more sustainable and cost-effective operations.

- sensor data - lab data, production data (if it's an industrial process) - meter data (gas or electricity) - environmental data

Once data on energy consumption is gathered from sources like smart meters, SCADA systems, IoT devices, and more, the next crucial step is preprocessing and analysis. Data preprocessing ensures its readiness for optimization by cleaning, filtering, and aggregating to eliminate noise and errors. Subsequently, data analysis utilizes statistical techniques to explore relationships. Descriptive statistics unveil data characteristics, inferential statistics test hypotheses, regression analysis models variable relationships, clustering analysis groups similar data, and classification analysis assigns labels.

Data exploration needs to occur before commencing data preprocessing. This involves studying the collected data to identify the data types and attributes. Cleaning and filtering involves finding any missing data points from the collected data. Transforming includes encoding, and normalizing or scaling the data points.

my answers refer to algorithms that get deployed to deliver insights in real time / near real time: - first you need good predictive models or heuristic / physical models of your process - what I find hardest is to set the right boundary conditions and constraints. Energy consumption is insanely complex from a physics points of view. So I typically go through the optimization cycle many times with different models, constraints and sometimes even the optimization targets change - the solvers I use are based on linear programming, constraint programming etc. but typically the solver is not the limiting factor

- optimize the process parameters of manufacturing plants in near real time, minimizing the energy consumption and ensuring to keep the quality at the specified level

I would recommend using machine learning to predict energy consumption using historical data recorded by sensors. This machine learning model(s) would have some control variables as well as disturbance variables (variables which we cannot control) as its features. Optimization then tries to find the optimal values of control variables that minimizes the overall power consumed for a given set of disturbance variables. As this is model based optimization, the optimization algorithm depends on the response surface. In general it is better to use metaheuristics like simulated annealing which can be used for blackbox optimization.

Data analytics in operational research can optimize energy usage by analyzing historical data to identify patterns, forecast demand, and enhance efficiency. For instance, in a manufacturing plant, analytics can analyze production schedules, energy consumption, and external factors. By identifying peak usage times and correlating them with production levels, the system can suggest optimal production schedules to minimize energy costs. Predictive analytics can also forecast future energy demands, allowing proactive adjustments. This data-driven approach enables businesses to allocate resources efficiently, reduce energy waste, and ultimately optimize operational costs.