The following report aims to introduce the main me2 specifications, and to describe the requirements needed to develop the me2 project. Me2 is a technological platform where the behaviours related to energy consumption could be monitored, and also to increase the energy efficiency.In order to have a better understanding about the use of that kind of platforms, a brief literature review is firstly presented, where some of the main behaviour changing mechanisms practices are highlighted. Also, a policy analysis was developed to give an extended overview of the existing market structures and barriers, as well as, the technical features that are relevant for the development of a venture like me2.The report will end with a detailed description of what the me2 user will be like. This information is mostly based on the pre-pilot survey and on a cross-cultural analysis between Portugal and the Netherlands. This comparison is fundamental for a better understanding about the target community used in this project. Concerning to the functional systems requirements, they are also described in this report, giving special attention to what is called me2 Logic, that includes the front-end platform, back-end activities, and the algorithms to user engagement.Therefore, this report delivers, in a very detailed way, all the reviewed information and procedures needed to be determined prior to the platform’s establishment, and regarding its implementation for the project’s first pilot in Lisbon.
Careers work is a very political business. Since the early 1990s, successive governments in England and the Netherlands have persistently challenged those working in the careers sector to demonstrate the educational, social and economic value and impact of their work. In this context, the marketisation of career guidance policies and practices has expanded, with a growing assumption that market-based goods and services ensure greater responsiveness to consumer choice and offer better and/or more innovative services for lower prices. In this article, we do not intend to give a comparison of trends in England and the Netherlands. We only examine the impact of market principles applied to career guidance provision in both countries. Findings indicate such provision for young people is on a steady decline. Lessons learned from these two nations indicate that a market for quality career services does not exist in schools and colleges. As a result, marketisation and privatisation of career services have led to an impoverished and fragmented supply of services. Greater attention by governments in career guidance policies for young people (and adults) is necessary to reduce the widening gap between ‘the haves and have nots’ in society. Failure to reduce labour market mismatch through new forms of careers dialogue is not only damaging and costly for individuals, families and employers, but for the taxpayer too.
Peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading has been recognized as an important technology to increase the local self-consumption of photovoltaics in the local energy system. Different auction mechanisms and bidding strategies haven been investigated in previous studies. However, there has been no comparatively analysis on how different market structures influence the local energy system’s overall performance. This paper presents and compares two market structures, namely a centralized market and a decentralized market. Two pricing mechanisms in the centralized market and two bidding strategies in the decentralized market are developed. The results show that the centralized market leads to higher overall system self-consumption and profits. In the decentralized market, some electricity is directly sold to the grid due to unmatchable bids and asks. Bidding strategies based on the learning algorithm can achieve better performance compared to the random method.
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