Imagine living on a somewhat remote island, where efficiently managing energy use can be a real challenge. Everyday activities like heating, cooling, or doing the laundry sometimes come at the cost of comfort. The slogan “leaving no one behind in the energy transition” often feels more like an ideal than a reality.
That’s where projects like ODEON step in, working to turn that ideal into something tangible. A key initiative under ODEON is the ODEON Energy Services for Prosumers, designed to encourage informed, transparent participation in energy flexibility and transactions through well-structured Local Flexibility and Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Energy Trading Marketplaces.
To raise awareness and promote these services within our pilot communities, ICOM, one of the project partners, created a dynamic animated video as part of the first Living Lab in Ireland. This video introduces the Digital Energy Assistant—a smart system developed to optimize household energy use in a way that aligns with sustainability goals and personal comfort.
The Digital Energy Assistant intelligently manages household loads—like heating, cooling, and laundry—by taking into account on-site renewable energy generation and storage. Its goal is to maximize self-consumption and ensure efficient energy use without sacrificing comfort. The assistant generates optimal schedules for connected devices and sends control signals to operate them automatically, helping to stabilize the grid while improving household energy efficiency. For manually operated appliances, it sends helpful notifications so users can decide when and how to adjust their usage.
Beyond automation, the assistant also plays an educational role, raising awareness about sustainability and encouraging users to adopt more energy-conscious lifestyles.
The animation aims to present the concept of the Digital Energy Assistant in a simple, engaging way that resonates with the real-life challenges faced by the Aran Islands community. Indeed, this video was played during the first Living Lab in Aran Islands. It’s a step toward empowering remote areas with the tools they need for a fair and inclusive energy transition.