A REVIEW OF UBICOMP FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY Stanley Adiele Okolie School of Graduate Studies University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State okoliesa@yahoo.com Enoch Okechukwu Nwachukwu Professor, Department of Computer Science University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State enoblesciences@yahoo.com ABSTRACT The idea behind ubiquitous computing is to surround ourselves with computers and software that are carefully tuned to offer us unobtrusive assistance as we navigate through our work and personal lives. Providing renewable energy is one of the fundamental challenges for mankind. Transportation and travel, heating and cooling, manufacturing and production are major areas in which energy is used and all these domains have become more and more linked to ubiquitous computing. With an increase in decentralized energy provision, ranging from energy harvesting in devices to personal green power plants, a great potential for creating renewable energy arises however, at the cost of a higher complexity of the distribution network and storage mechanisms. Overall we believe that research in ubiquitous computing can provide important contributions to a world with renewable energy. This work provides insights on how to conserve, efficiently produce, use, and distribute energy. Keywords: energy conservation, renewable energy, Ubicomp, smart energy 1 INTRODUCTION The idea behind ubiquitous computing is to surround ourselves with computers and software that are carefully tuned to offer us unobtrusive assistance as we navigate through our work and personal lives. Providing renewable energy is one of the fundamental challenges for mankind. With energy usage being a part of everyday activities and with the increasingly diversity of energy creation this is an inherently multidisciplinary problem. Transportation and travel, heating and cooling, manufacturing and production are major areas in which energy is used and all these domains have become more and more linked to ubiquitous computing. For a novice, a brief introduction to the Essentials of Computing [1], might be necessary for easy understanding of this paper. With an increase in decentralized energy provision, ranging from energy harvesting in devices to personal green power plants, a great potential for creating renewable energy arises however, at the cost of a higher complexity of the distribution network and storage mechanisms. Overall we believe that research in ubiquitous computing can provide important contributions to a world with renewable energy. This work provides insights on how to conserve, efficiently produce, use, and distribute energy. Ubiquitous computing is a part of everyday life. Computers are embedded and intrinsic to the myriad of devices and machines we use, ranging from communication and entertainment devices to transportation and production systems. Our energy consumption is strongly and increasingly linked to activities that we carry out while using computerized devices and systems [2]. This opens up the opportunity to design these systems to conserve energy. One canonical example is heating and cooling the home. As such systems become programmable and as sensors become commonplace, systems can be made more efficient without losing quality: a heating system in a house that is aware of the whereabouts of the inhabitants can significantly decrease the needed energy [3, 4]. With devices such as fridges, washing machines and machinery becoming a part of the internet of things, further opportunities arise: devices can negotiate when to use energy with the supplier, e.g. based on a smart grid infrastructure. In this area ubiquitous computing is a central enabling technology for reducing energy consumption. We argue that energy usage should be one fundamental issue that is taken into account when designing systems. Ubiquitous Computing and Communication Journal Volume 6 Number 4 Page 22 www.ubicc.org