Article

Energy Sustainability in Smart Cities: Artificial

Intelligence, Smart Monitoring, and Optimization of
Energy Consumption
Kwok Tai Chui 1,*, Miltiadis D. Lytras 2,3 and Anna Visvizi 2,4
1 Department of Electronic Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
2 School of Business & Economics, Deree College—The American College of Greece, Gravias 6,
153 42 Agia Paraskevi, Greece; [email protected] (M.D.L.); [email protected] (A.V.)
3 Effat College of Engineering, Effat University, P.O. Box 34689, Jeddah 21478, Saudi Arabia

4 Effat College of Business, Effat University, P.O. Box 34689, Jeddah 21478, Saudi Arabia

* Correspondence: [email protected]

Received: 10 October 2018; Accepted: 19 October 2018; Published: 23 October 2018

Abstract: Energy sustainability is one of the key questions that drive the debate on cities’ and urban
areas development. In parallel, artificial intelligence and cognitive computing have emerged as
catalysts in the process aimed at designing and optimizing smart services’ supply and utilization in
urban space. The latter are paramount in the domain of energy provision and consumption. This
paper offers an insight into pilot systems and prototypes that showcase in which ways artificial
intelligence can offer critical support in the process of attaining energy sustainability in smart cities.
To this end, this paper examines smart metering and non-intrusive load monitoring (NILM) to
make a case for the latter’s value added in context of profiling electric appliances’ electricity
consumption. By employing the findings in context of smart cities research, the paper then adds to
the debate on energy sustainability in urban space. Existing research tends to be limited by data
granularity (not in high frequency) and consideration of about six kinds of appliances. In this
paper, a hybrid genetic algorithm support vector machine multiple kernel learning approach
(GA-SVM-MKL) is proposed for NILM, with consideration of 20 kinds of appliance. Genetic
algorithm helps to solve the multi-objective optimization problem and design the optimal kernel
function based on various kernel properties. The performance indicators are sensitivity (Se),
specificity (Sp) and overall accuracy (OA) of the classifier. First, the performance evaluation of
proposed GA-SVM-MKL achieves Se of 92.1%, Sp of 91.5% and OA of 91.8%. Second, the percentage
improvement of performance indicators using proposed method is more than 21% compared with
traditional kernel. Third, results reveal that by keeping different modes of electric appliance as
identical class label, the performance indicators can increase to about 15%. Forth, tunable modes of
GA-SVM-MKL classifier are proposed to further enhance the performance indicators up to 7%.
Overall, this paper is a bold and novel contribution to the debate on energy utilization and
sustainability in urban spaces as it integrates insights from artificial intelligence, IoT, and big data
analytics and queries them in a context defined by energy sustainability in smart cities.

Keywords: artificial intelligence; demand response; energy; policy making; genetic algorithm;
multiple kernel learning; non-intrusive load monitoring; smart grid; smart metering; support
vector machine; smart cities; smart villages

Energies 2018, 11, 2869; doi:10.3390/en11112869 www.mdpi.com/journal/energies

Energies 2018, 11, 2869 2 of 20

1. Introduction
Cities are the major consumers of electricity today. Considering the correlation that exists
between energy consumption, the environmental footprint it leaves, and the implications for and of
global warming [1,2], energy sustainability emerges as one of the key questions that beholds the
stakeholders, including the industry, decision-makers and the society. Consensus has emerged that
replacing old electrical infrastructure by smart grid might be the most effective way of addressing
the challenge worldwide. Microgrid applications like transactive energy framework [3,4], energy
management [5–7] and advanced retail electricity market [8], play an important role in context of
smart grid development. Microgrids are typically supported by generators or renewable wind and
solar energy resources and are often used to provide backup power or to supplement the main
power grid during periods of heavy demand. A microgrid strategy that integrates local wind or
solar resources can provide redundancy for essential services and make the main grid less
susceptible to localized disaster. Smart metering is one of the key features that conditions the
functioning of a smart grid [9]. By 2020, worldwide, the estimated number of smart meters will
exceed 800 million, while the penetration rate will be 50% [10,11]. The question is to what extent and
how smart metering may contribute to attaining greater efficiency of a smart grid, e.g., by
optimizing it. To address this question, this paper employs advances in artificial intelligence and big
data analytics to query in which ways their integrated use in context of smart metering and smart
grid optimization may yield positive results in the form of decreased energy consumption and
greater energy sustainability. Inserting the discussion in context of smart cities, adds an additional
twist to this discussion. The argument is structured as follows. In the first section, a review of load
monitoring methods is discussed briefly to highlight the value added of non-intrusive load
monitoring. Next, the research methodology is outlined, which is followed by overview of empirical
testing and analysis. Section 5 evaluates the performance of proposed method and its comparison
with related work. Finally a conclusion is drawn.

2. Related Works—Non-Intrusive Load Monitoring (NILM) and Its Value Added

The evolution of modern advanced computational forecasting methods provides new tools for
electricity forecasting and pattern recognition. According to individual smart data and smart
metering techniques will have a great impact in the efficiency of smart energy solutions. In addition,
artificial intelligence techniques and smart grid approaches can set up sophisticated services for the
optimization of energy consumption. Toward this direction advanced demand modelling using
machine learning algorithms will offer new predicting capabilities. Furthermore, Big Data context
increases the complexity of the problem and also requires novel mining techniques based on energy
time series for behavioral analytics. Therefore, user behavior and analysis is directly linked, as is
integrated behavioral analytics and smart energy modelling, metering and solutions.
Recent research focused on intrusive load monitoring (ILM) and non-intrusive load monitoring
(NILM). A study concluded that load monitoring can reduce 20% electricity consumption [12]. In
contrast, ILM is distributed sensing, whereas NILM is single-point sensing. ILM uses more than one
smart meter per apartment (could be one smart meter per power outlet), but NILM uses only one
smart meter in the apartment. Theoretically, more smart meters can yield higher accuracy for the
detection of appliance consumption, because the number of appliances that need to be
disaggregated is lower [13]. However, disadvantages exist. These include: High cost, complex smart
metering network configuration, and management. This paper focuses specifically on NILM and its
value added.
Figure 1 shows the general architecture of NILM for electricity suppliers, companies and users.
The NILM benefits to electricity suppliers, manufacturers and users. Electricity suppliers can
achieve a more accurate demand response by understanding the electricity consumption profile of
each electric appliance. Therefore, a better energy demand prediction model can be achieved using
the usage pattern. Furthermore, it tries to lower the gap between total electricity supply and demand,
in other words, the electricity wastage attributable to unused electricity decreases (it is worth
mentioning that the energy supply is always larger than energy demand to ensure it can still fulfill
Energies 2018, 11, 2869 3 of 20

the demand requirement if abrupt increase in demand occurs). For manufacturers, they would be
able to develop a better understanding of the relationship between appliances and their usage
patterns. One may focus on increasing the energy efficiency of frequently used and power hungry
appliances. Last, the electricity consumption pattern of each appliance may correct the
misunderstanding of end users whom normally have no idea on electricity consumption. They can
formulate a direction to reduce the electricity bill, especially in power hungry appliance.

Figure 1. Non-intrusive load monitoring (NILM)—general architecture: Electricity suppliers,

companies and end users.

Various approaches for NILM have been proposed. For instance, decision tree [14,15], graph
signal processing [16], hidden Markov model [17,18], k-nearest neighbor [19], clustering [20] and
cepstrum-smoothing [21]. It can be seen that the detection interval for some works is not real-time, 8
s in [15] and 1 min in [16–18,20]. This is often impractical because the actual operation time for an
electric appliance is usually not a divider of 1-min or 8 s. When it comes to NILM, unsupervised or
supervised classification is required. It is invalid to define the class label when the operation time is
not a divider of the detection interval. Thus, a real-time detection interval 50 Hz or 60 Hz is required,
which depends on the line voltage standard of the district. The works in [16,20,21] adopt detection
interval of 60 Hz, 50 Hz and 0.5 s respectively. However, these works focused on NILM of 4 or 6
electric appliances, which are far from adequate in the practical situation. The details of [16–21], as
well as comparison between proposed work and these works will be discussed in Section 5.5.
In this paper, a hybrid generic algorithm support vector machine multiple kernel learning
(GA-SVM-MKL) approach has been proposed for NILM of 20 electric appliances. Genetic algorithm
helps to solve the multi-objective optimization problem and design the optimal kernel function
based on various kernel properties. SVM is adopted owning to the fact that it takes key advantages
in (i) avoid over-fitting; (ii) kernel trick; (iii) convex optimization problem; and (iv) good
out-of-sample generalization. The contribution is as follows (i) GA-SVM-MKL is capable of
analyzing and disaggregating the energy profile of single point into list of 20 common types of
operating electric appliances, which is far more than that in existing works; (ii); GA-SVM-MKL
achieves Sensitivity (Se) of 92.1–98.4%, Specificity (Sp) of 91.5–98.8% and overall accuracy (OA) of
91.8–98.6% and (iii) Tunable modes of GA-SVM-MKL is introduced to enhance the classification
performance by 7% because we can reduce the number of types of appliances in certain period in
order to reduce the complexity of model and thus increase the performance of classification model.
The rest of the paper is organized as follows. The methodology and formulation of the
proposed algorithm is presented in Section 2. Section 3 carries out performance evaluation of the
Energies 2018, 11, 2869 4 of 20

proposed algorithm and comparison is made with existing methods. Finally, a conclusion is drawn
in Section 4.

3. Research Methodology and Research Problem Formulation

This paper examines to what extent and how smart metering may contribute to attaining
greater efficiency of smart grid, for example by optimizing it by deploying advances from the fields
of artificial intelligence and big data analytics. To address this question, several hypotheses have
been made, as well as corresponding research, including literature review and primary research.
Figure 2 depicts the methodology and the workflow. In brief, the research presented here draws
from insights from three converging fields of scientific inquiry to rethink the question of smart grid
optimization. These insights include:
 Insights from artificial intelligence (AI) and cognitive computing and the value added they bring
into the process of designing, managing and utilizing smart energy systems
 Insights from smart cities and smart villages research, as well as considerations specific to the
debate on sustainability, including the SDGs, and their value added consistent with an emphasis
on wellbeing and inclusive socio-economic growth and development
 Insights from the broad field pertinent to energy supply and demand and related questions the
value added if ICT-driven coherent and effective policymaking
It is at the intersection of these three broad domains that our research question is located.
Accordingly, the more specific research questions that this paper will address include: In which
ways novel ICT-enhanced solutions, including algorithms and data integration, can contribute to
efficient and sustainable consumption of resources, like energy.
“What is the optimal design of classification model for NILM application”. The multiple
objectives optimization problem will be solved by multi-objective genetic algorithm.
“Can we reduce the number of types of appliances in certain period in order to reduce the
complexity of model and thus increase the performance of classification model”. This will be
addressed in Section 5.4.

Figure 2. Flow chart of research methodology. AI, artificial intelligence; GA-SVM, generic algorithm
support vector machine.

4. Overview of Empirical Testing and Analysis

The general flow of GA-SVM-MKL classifier for NILM is given in Figure 3. The smart meter
will measure the current and voltage waveform of the apartment continuously. Both waveforms are
carried out signal preprocessing includes dc offset elimination, interval segmentation. In this paper,
Energies 2018, 11, 2869 5 of 20

0.2 s interval is selected as of the line voltage standards in Hong Kong, 220 V/50 Hz. Features of each
interval segment are then computed. The features act as input for the embedded and trained
GA-SVM-MKL classifier. The training of classifier includes signal preprocessing and features
extraction. Then, formulation of different multi-objective SVM classifiers is carried out by various
combinations of typical kernels. The multi-objective optimization problems are solved by genetic
algorithm. The optimal designs of classifier under different combinations of typical kernels can be
concluded. It is worth mentioning that a well-known 10-fold cross-validation is adopted for the
training of classifier [22–24]. The outputs of the classifier are types of operating electric appliances
and electricity consumption of operating electric appliances. Based on the outputs of the classifier,
three major applications, billing, demand response and appliance usage pattern can be obtained.
Electricity suppliers may utilize all applications whereas companies and end users may only utilize
the appliance usage pattern.

Figure 3. Flow chart for the operation of generic algorithm support vector machine multiple kernel
learning (GA-SVM-MKL) classifier for NILM.

This section comprises of three subsections. First, the measurement and preparation of datasets
for training and validation of GA-SVM-MKL classifier are discussed. Second, possible features for
constructing the GA-SVM-MKL classifier are presented. At last, the formulation of optimal design of
GA-SVM-MKL classifier is explained.

4.1. Datasets of Electric Appliances

Figure 4 shows the measurement set up for obtaining the voltage and current waveforms of all
electric appliances. The voltage of 220 Vrms is measured with differential probe using cathode ray
Energies 2018, 11, 2869 6 of 20

oscilloscope (CRO) with sampling frequency Fs = 10 kHz. A current transformer with ratio 50/5 is
utilized for measuring the current waveform. The resistor R1 is chosen to be large value (10 MΩ),
which because it has negligible effect to the circuit. The resistor R2 of 10 MΩ is connected in series
with the secondary winding of current transformer to avoid open circuit.

Figure 4. Measurement set up for capturing voltage and current waveforms of electric appliances.
CRO, cathode ray oscilloscope.

The datasets consist of 20 electric appliances that are commonly used in typical households. The
measurement allows multiple operation of electric appliances, in other words, the current
waveforms may be superimposed by multiple electric appliances. Table 1 summarizes the electric
appliances along with their type of activity, modes and number of brands being considered. The
electric appliances can be divided into six activities, lighting, cooking, home living, computing,
renovating and audio and video. There is limitation that the measurement cannot cover all brands of
each electric appliance, each electric appliance has at least two brands for consideration. Likewise,
there is a maximum number for each electric appliance operating at any instant in a typical
household. For every combination of electric appliances, the corresponding voltage and current
waveforms are recorded for 30 s (equivalent to 30 × 50 = 1500 samples). Each combination is assigned
with a unique class label. It is noted that in Section 5.1, different modes of electric appliances will be
assumed as identical class label and that in Section 5.2 will be assumed as different class labels.

Table 1. List of electric appliances that have been analyzed.

Maximum Maximum
Type of Electric No. of No. of Type of Electric No. of No. of
Modes Modes
Activity Appliance Brands Appliances Activity Appliance Brands Appliances
at One Time at One Time
Electric Fluorescent
2 3 2 1 2 3
stove light
Cooking microwave
3 2 1 Light bulb 1 2 3
oven Lighting
cooker 3 2 1 LED tube 1 3 3
LED light
Ironbrush 4 2 1 1 2 3
bulb
Vacuum
1 2 1 Notebook 1 6 3
cleaner
Home Fan 3 3 2 desktop 1 3 3
living All in one
Computing
Hair dryer 2 3 2 printer and 1 2 1
scanner
Electric Mobile
2 2 1 1 5 3
heater charger
Electric
1 2 1 Radio 1 2 1
drill Audio and
Renovation
Electric video
1 2 1 Television 1 2 1
sander
Energies 2018, 11, 2869 7 of 20

After measuring the voltage and current waveforms of electric appliances, the waveforms
perform dc offset elimination, whichIndividual samples can be obtained by segmentation of signals
with interval of 0.2 s.

4.2. Features Extraction

F The individual samples I(n) and V(n) are transformed to feature vector. The proposed
GA-SVM-MKL adopts seven features: Maximum current (Imax), root-mean-square current (Irms),
average current (Iavg), active power (Pact), apparent power (Papp), reactive power (Prea) and power
factor (PF). The features can be computed by:

I max  max{I (n)} , (1)

I rms  [ I 2 (1)  I 2 (2)  ...  I 2 ( Fs / 50)] /( Fs / 50) , (2)

1 a Fs / 50
I avg   I (a) ,
Fs / 50 a 1
(3)

1 aFs / 50
Pact   I (a)V (a) ,
Fs / 50 a1
(4)

Papp  [V 2 (1)  ...  V 2 ( Fs / 50)] /( Fs / 50)

, (5)
 [ I 2 (1)  ...  I 2 ( Fs / 50)] /( Fs / 50)

2 2
Prea  Papp  Pact , (6)

PF  Pact / Papp . (7)

It is worth mentioning that dimensionality reduction (e.g., in [11]) is not adopted because all of
these features are essential for distinguishing between electric appliances in nature. The focus will be
devoted on the optimal design of kernel function for building SVM classifier.

4.3. Optimal Design of GA-SVM-MKL Classifier

Denote electric appliances samples by Xij(n) with current Iij(n) and Vij(n) for class i = 1,…,Nc and j
= 1,…,Ni where Ni = 1500 is the total number of samples in class i. Let feature vector be fij = {Imax,ij, Irms,ij,
Iavg,ij, Pact,ij, Papp,ij, Prea,ij, PFij} corresponds to Xij(n).
When it comes to the selection of kernels, there are five typical kernels k(x1, x2) with inner
product 〈x1,x2〉. They are linear kernel, qth degree polynomial kernel, complete polynomial kernel,
radial basis function (RBF) kernel and sigmoid kernel. The expressions of these kernels can be
summarized as follows:
Linear kernel: k1 ( x1 , x2 )  x1 , x2 . (8)

qth degree polynomial kernel: k 2 ( x1 , x2 )  ( x1 , x2 ) q . (9)

Complete polynomial kernel: k3 ( x1 , x2 )  ( x1 , x2  c)q . (10)

RBF kernel: k 4 ( x1 , x2 )  exp(|| x1  x2 || 2 / 2 ) . (11)

Energies 2018, 11, 2869 8 of 20

Sigmoid kernel: k5 ( x1 , x2 )  tanh( x1 , x2  c) , (12)

where c,   , q    .
Different kernels possess different characteristics where there is no single kernel that works
well in all applications. In this paper, the proposed GA-SVM-MKL classifier adopts the idea that by
combining multiple kernels (namely multiple kernel learning), the classifier can achieve better
performance for NILM after taking the advantages from each kernel. In order to combine kernels to
form a new one, the kernel should obey Mercer’s Theorem. According to [25], there are four
properties (P):
P1: k ( x1 , x2 )  ki ( x1 , x2 )  k j ( x1 , x2 ) . (13)

P2: k ( x1 , x2 )  c  ki ( x1 , x2 ), c    . (14)

P3: k ( x1 , x2 )  ki ( x1 , x2 )  c, c    . (15)

P4: k ( x1 , x2 )  k i ( x1 , x2 )  k j ( x1 , x2 ) , (16)

where ki :      and k j :      are any two Mercer kernels. It is noted that

properties 1 and 4 can be further extended to infinite number of Mercer kernels.
The optimal design of classifier for NILM is formulated as a multi-objective optimization
problem and solved by genetic algorithm. Multi-objective optimization is an integral part of
optimization activities and has tremendous practical importance, since almost all real-world
optimization problems are ideally suited to be modeled using multiple conflicting objectives [26].
Compared with single objective optimizations, which usually scalarizing multiple-objectives into
one single objective, multi-objective optimization can give trade-off optimal solutions more
accurately. Besides, the multi-objective optimization has multiple cardinalities of the optimal set,
multiple objectives and different search spaces [27]. The objective functions constitute a
multidimensional space, which is known as objective spaces [28]. The optimal solutions presented
in objective spaces are referred to as Pareto optimal solutions and the set of such solutions are
called Pareto Front.
As the objectives conflict with each other, it is usually impossible to obtain one single optimal
objective. Therefore, for obtaining the optimal solutions in multi-objective optimizations, the most
used concept is domination. Assuming for an M-objective minimization problem, candidate
solution u is dominated by another candidate solution v if and only if function values of u is
partially less than v, which is formulated as [26]:
 f m (u )  f m ( v ) m  1,2,..., M
 . (17)
 f m (u )  f m ( v ) n  1,2,..., M
Based on the concept of domination, what we prefer are the non-dominated solutions, which
compose the Pareto Front. In this paper, in order to give the optimal design of classifier for NILM,
multi-objective optimization genetic algorithm (MOGA) [27] for solving the multiple kernels is
designed. The flow of the MOGA for the optimal design of kernel functions is shown in Figure 5.
The procedures are as follows: (i) The population size and values of objective function are initialized;
(ii) the values of objective function of individuals in the population are computed using the values of
objective function defined in (i); (iii) ranking the individuals according to the values of objective
function; (iv) the population convergence is dependent on small group of pareto optimal solutions,
but not all optimal solutions attributable to the nature of the stochastic selection errors, given a
limited population size; (v) niche count is introduced to enhance the population diversity by
lengthening the distance between two optimal solutions along the axis of objective functions. The
convergence to small group solutions will be avoided; (vi) a new offspring is generated and the
values of objective functions are evaluated; (vii) ranks assignment and niche count calculation are
Energies 2018, 11, 2869 9 of 20

carried out repeatedly in the new offspring; and (viii) the algorithm is terminated if it attains the
maximum number of generations or if the output reaches the pareto front. It is noted that there exist
other stopping criteria in literature for stochastic optimization algorithm and can be referred to
[29–31].

Figure 5. Flow chart of the optimal design of the classifier using GA-SVM-MKL.

The multi-objective optimization problem for NILM can be formulated as:

Max Se
Max Sp , (18)
~
Max D
N
s.t.  j  0,   j y j  0, i  1,..., N , (19)
j 1
~
where Se is the sensitivity of the classifier, Sp is the specificity of the classifier, D is a margin equals
to distance of closest samples from the hyperplane,  j is the Lagrange multiplier and
~
y j  {1,1} is the output of the classifier. The three objective functions Se, Sp and D are defined
as:
S e  TP / N p , (20)

S p  TN / N n , (21)

N
~ 1 N N
D  i    i j yi y j k NILM ( xi , x j ) , (22)
i 1 2 i 1 j 1
where TP is the number of true positive samples, TN is the number of true negative samples, Np is
the total number of positive samples, Nn is the total number of negative samples. The customized
Energies 2018, 11, 2869 10 of 20

and optimized kernel for NILM, kNILM varies by different combination of typical kernels in (8)–(12)
using Properties 1–4 in (13)–(16). These scenarios are summarized in Appendix A Table A1, which
have been studied and analyzed. It is noted that due to there are infinite scenarios settings, only
property combinations of property (P), P1, P2, P3, P4, P1P2, P1P3, P1P4, P1P5, P2P3, P2P4, P2P5, P3P4, P3P5,
P4P5 are illustrated and analyzed. These 285 scenario settings cover adequate analysis for taking the
advantages from individual kernel to form a multiple kernel for kNILM.
The proof of combinations of property P1P2, P1P3, P1P4, P1P5, P2P3, P2P4, P2P5, P3P4, P3P5, P4P5 is
shown below:
For all r   and all sequences ( x1 ,..., xr )   r let K1, K2, K3, K4, KP1P2, KP1P3, KP1P4, KP2P3, KP2P4
and KP2P3 be the r × r matrices whose i, j-th element is given by k1(xi, xj), k2(xi, xj), k3(xi, xj), k4(xi, xj),
c1k1(xi, xj) + c2k2(xi, xj), k1(xi, xj) + k2(xi, xj) + c, (k1(xi, xj) + k2(xi, xj))(k3(xi, xj)k4(xi, xj)), c1k1(xi, xj) + c2, ck1(xi,
xj)k2(xi, xj) and (k1(xi, xj) + c)k2(xi, xj) respectively. It is required to show that KP1P2, KP1P3, KP1P4, KP2P3,
KP2P4 and KP2P3 are positive semidefinite using only that K1, K2, K3 and K4 are positive semidefinite, i.e.,
for all r  r ,  ' K1  0 ,  ' K 2  0 ,  ' K 3  0 and  ' K 4  0 .
(i)  ' K P1P 2   ' (c1 K1  c2 K 2 )  0 , (23)

(ii)  ' K P1P 3   ' ( K1  K 2  c11' ) , (24)

  ' K1   ' K 2  c || 1' || 2  0 . (25)

(iii) The r2 × r2 matrix H  K1  ( K 3 K 4 ) and G  K 2  ( K 3 K 4 ) are positive semidefinite, that is,

2
for a   r , a ' Ha  0
all and a ' Ga  0 . Given any   r , consider
2
a  (1e1 ' ,...,  r er ' )  r . Then
r2 r2 r r
a' Ha   ai a j H ij    i j H i(i 1) r , j ( j 1) r , (26)
i 1 j 1 i 1 j 1
r r
   i j k1 ( xi , x j )k3 ( xi , x j )k 4 ( xi , x j ) . (27)
i 1 j 1

Similarly, it can be derived that

r2 r2 r r
a ' Ga   ai a j Gij    i j Gi(i 1) r , j ( j 1) r . (28)
i 1 j 1 i 1 j 1
r r
   i j k 2 ( xi , x j )k3 ( xi , x j )k 4 ( xi , x j ) . (29)
i 1 j 1

Thus, a ' Ha  a ' Ga

r r
 i j (k1(xi , x j )  k2 (xi , x j ))(k3 (xi , x j )k4 (xi , x j )) , (30)
i1 j 1

  ' K P1P 4  0 . (31)

(iv)  ' K P 2 P 3   ' (c1 K1  c211' ) , (32)

 c1 ' K1  c2 || 1' || 2  0 . (33)

(v)  ' K P 2 P 4   ' (cK1 K 2 ) , (34)

 c ' K1 K 2  0 . (35)

(vi)  ' K P 3 P 4   ' ( K1  K 2  c11' ) , (36)

Energies 2018, 11, 2869 11 of 20

  ' K1   ' K 2  c || 1' || 2 . (37)

A 10-fold cross validation is used for the for performance evaluation of the kernels [22–24]. The
classifiers are deduced using 1-against-1 multi-class SVM. This is because 1-against-1 multi-class
SVM approach was generally performed better than 1-against-all multi-class SVM [25–28].

5. Performance Evaluation and Comparisons

This section is divided into five subsections. Section 5.1 discusses the performance of the
proposed GA-SVM-MKL classifiers. In Section 5.2, in order to show the effectiveness of kNILM using
multiple kernels, the performance of classifier using kNILM is compared with either single kernel is
used. The feasibility study of breaking down electric appliances into different modes is discussed in
Section 5.3. Intuitively, some activities like cooking and renovating are carried out in certain period.
Thus, the number of classes for classifier can be reduced when these electric appliances are not
in-use and the classifier is then retrained. Results in Section 5.4 support this hypothesis. Finally,
comparison between proposed GA-SVM-MKL classifier and related works is carried out in Section
5.5.

5.1. Performance Evaluation of GA-SVM-MKL Classifier

285 scenarios for kNILM using P1, P2, P3, P4, P1P2, P1P3, P1P4, P2P3, P2P4 and P3P4, with typical kernels
k1, k2, k3, k4 and k5 are optimally designed. The Se, Sp and overall accuracy (OA) of the GA-SVM-MKL
in each scenario are recorded as shown in Appendix A Table A2. OA is defined as the average of Se
and Sp given that the identical sample size in each class of the classifier. Probability distribution of
the OAs for 285 scenarios is shown in Appendix A, as in Figure A1. The skewness and kurtosis of the
OA for all scenarios are −0.0902 (left skewed) and 1.547 (heavy-tailed) respectively.
OA  (Se  S p ) / 2 . (38)
All results are obtained using 10-fold cross-validation. Scenario 178 using P1P2 achieves the best
performance with Se of 92.1%, Sp of 91.5% and OA of 91.8%. The average OA using different
properties can be ranked by OAP2P3 > OAP3P4 > OAP2P4 > OAP1P2 > OAP1P3 > OAP1P4 > OAP2> OAP1 > OAP3
> OAP4 with accuracies 87.3%, 86.7%, 85.8%, 83.4%, 76.7%, 76.6%, 75.8%, 75.6%, 75.3%, and 74.7%
respectively.
Results reveal that merging kernel properties and adopting multiple kernel learning can
achieve better performance than using single property.

5.2. Comparisons to Single Kernel Based SVM Classifier

The performance of proposed GA-SVM-MKL classifier is compared to traditional SVM
classifier using single kernel k1, k2, k3, k4 and k5. It is noted that this SVM classifier deals with single
~
objective maximization problem, which maximizes the margin D which has been defined in (22).
The comparison is shown in Table 2. The proposed GA-SVM-MKL classifier increases the Se, Sp
and OA by 21.3–28.6%, 21.5–26.7% and 21.4–27.7% respectively. Among five scenarios using
traditional SVM with k1–k5, the best performance is using k4, which follows by k5, k3, k2 and k1. The
better performance of proposed GA-SVM-MKL can be explained by two reasons. First,
GA-SVM-MKL adopts optimal kernel using multiple kernel learning with kernel properties in
which it takes the advantages from each individual kernel for customization to NILM. Second,
traditional SVM aims at single objective optimization, which maximizes the margin, but not Se and
Sp.

Table 2. Comparisons between Proposed and Traditional SVM Classifier.

Method Se (%) Sp (%) OA (%)

GA-SVM-MKL 92.1 91.5 91.8
SVM using k1 71.6 72.2 71.9
SVM using k2 72.3 72.8 72.6
Energies 2018, 11, 2869 12 of 20

SVM using k3 73.5 74.2 73.9

SVM using k4 75.9 75.3 75.6
SVM using k5 74.9 75.1 75

5.3. Feasibility Study of Assignment a Class Label for Different Modes of Electric Appliance
Among 20 electric appliances in this study, seven electric appliances, electric stove, microwave
oven, cooker, ironbrush, fan, hair dryer and electric heater have more than one mode. These are
activities of cooking and home living. In Section 5.1, it is assumed that different modes of the same
electric appliances are of the same class. In this section, analysis has been made to assign different
modes of the same electric appliances to be different classes. Thus, the 20 electric appliances can be
extended to 32 electric appliances. Table 3 shows four scenarios S1, S2, S3 and S4 for the performance
comparisons of GA-SVM-MKL classifier between before and after the assignment of new classes.
Compared between S1 and S2, the assignment of new class label for different modes of electric
appliances decreases the Se, Sp and OA by 15.7%, 14.4% and 15.0% respectively. Scenarios S3 and S4
reveal that the decrease in Se, Sp and OA are mainly due to the introduction of new class labels for
activities of cooking and home living. Therefore, the original assumption that different modes of
same electric appliances should be considered as identical electric appliance is verified.

Table 3. Performance evaluation of assignment a class label for different modes in electric
appliances.

Scenario (S1 to S4) Se (%) Sp (%) OA (%)

S1: 20 appliances (Different modes, same class) 92.1 91.5 91.8
S2: 32 appliances (Different modes, different classes) 79.6 80.0 79.8
S3: 32 appliances (only cooking related combinations) 77.4 77.1 77.3
S4: 32 appliances (only home living related combinations) 75.3 76.6 76.0

5.4. Tunable Mode for GA-SVM-MKL Classifier

Aforementioned, the 20 electric appliances for study can be divided into six activities, lighting,
cooking, home living, computing, renovating and audio and video. All activities except renovating
are daily used. For cooking, it is periodic activities in which users turn on the electric appliances in
breakfast, lunch or dinner. Thus, it is proposed that GA-SVM-MKL classifier can be tuned for
different electric appliances detection with five tunable modes (TMs).
(i) TM 1 assumes a full range classifier, in which all 20 electric appliances in six activities can be
detected.
(ii) TM 2 can be selected when it is breakfast, lunch or dinner so that electric appliances of
cooking should be detected by the classifier. Provided that there is no renovating, five activities,
lighting, cooking, home living, computing and audio and video can be detected.
(iii) TM 3 is a non-eating period where electric appliances of cooking are not necessary.
However, there is small-scale renovating activity, which allows normal activities inside the house.
Five activities, including lighting, home living, computing, renovating, and audio and video, can be
detected.
(iv) TM 4 assumes electric appliances related to cooking and renovating activities will not be
operated. Only four activities, lighting, home living, computing and audio and video will be
operated and detected.
(v) TM 5 assumes a large-scale renovating, in which only electric appliances of renovating (1
activity) are detected.
Table 4 summarizes the modes and the activities of GA-SVM-MKL classifier. For each mode, a
GA-SVM-MKL classifier is trained using 10-fold cross-validation. Practically, end users can enter the
period for breakfast, lunch and dinner during weekday and weekend so that GA-SVM-MKL
classifier can detect electric appliances of cooking in specific time interval. Also, the ability to detect
electric appliances of renovating is turned off until end users specify there is a renovation activity in
their apartment.
Energies 2018, 11, 2869 13 of 20

Table 4. Various Modes in GA-SVM-MKL classifier.

Mode of Classifier
Activity
Mode 1 Mode 2 Mode 3 Mode 4 Mode 5
Lighting ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ X
Cooking ✓ ✓ X X X
Home living ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ X
Computing ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ X
Renovating ✓ X ✓ X ✓
Audio and video ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ X

The Se, Sp and OA for the classifier in TM 1 to 5 have been recorded in Table 5. A finding is
observed, the Se, Sp and OA of the classifier increase when the number of activities (or classes)
decreases. This may be explained by fewer classes, the classification problem is less complex. Thus, it
is shown that the proposed mode tunable GA-SVM-MKL classifier can help improving the Se, Sp
and OA for NILM. Compared between TM1 and TM2-TM5, the percentage improvement using
tunable mode is ranged (1.85%, 6.84%), (2.84%, 7.98%), (2.51%, 7.41%) for Se, Sp and OA
respectively.

Table 5. Performance Evaluation of GA-SVM-MKL classifier in each tunable modes (TM).

Se | Sp and OA (%) of GA-SVM-MKL Classifier

TM 1 TM 2 TM 3 TM 4 TM 5
Se Sp Se Sp Se Sp Se Sp Se Sp
92.1 91.5 93.8 94.3 94.6 94.1 96.6 96.1 98.4 98.8
OA 91.8 OA 94.1 OA 94.4 OA 96.4 OA 98.6

5.5. Comparisons to Related Works

Related works for NILM include different methods like decision tree [14,15], graph signal
processing [16], hidden Markov model [17,18], k-nearest neighbor [19], clustering [20] and
cepstrum-smoothing [21]. The features, datasets, cross-validation, detection interval, and OA of each
method have been summarized in Table 6. It should be noted that related work in [18] focused on
building a probabilistic appliance model which has been generalized to match previously unseen
households; thus, it did not involve any classifier for NILM.

Table 6. Performance comparisons between GA-SVM-MKL and related works.

Cross- Detection
Work Features Dataset OA
Validation Interval
Four electric appliances—battery charger,
Decision tree approximation
compact fluorescent lamp, personal 0.0167 s
and wavelet level and No 96.65%
computer and incandescent light bulb (60 Hz)
transform [14] detail level
(total 864 samples)
the first
increasing
edge at the Ten Activities—cooking, washing,
start of the laundering, cleaning, watching TV,
Decision tree
event and the listening to radio, games, computing, N/A 8s 59%
method [15]
last decreasing hobbies and socializing (unknown sample
edge at the size)
end of the
event
Nine electric appliances—416 microwave
Graph signal oven, 311 washer dryer, 61 oven,
Active power
processing 330 lighting, 2228 refrigerator, 264 No 1 min 77.2%
edges
[16] dishwasher, 138 stove, 62 heater and 54 air
conditioner
Factorial Factorial main Five electric appliances—90 microwave N/A 1 min 70.84%
Energies 2018, 11, 2869 14 of 20

Hidden factors oven, 121 electric stove, 883 refrigerator,

Markov 58 dishwasher and 189 lighting
Model [17]
Hidden Four electric appliances—2228
Markov log-odds score refrigerator, 416 microwave oven, 50-fold 1 min N/A
model [18] 311 washing machine and 264 dishwasher
maximum,
k-nearest average and
neighbor and root mean Four electric appliances—27 Fan,
0.02 s
artificial square of the 30 Fluorescent light, 19 radio and 18 No 97.87%
(50 Hz)
neural current wave microwave oven
network [19] in transient
stage
real power,
reactive
Seven electric appliances—800 oven,
power,
Clustering 56 refrigerator, 452 dishwasher, 65
apparent No 1 min 77.6%
[20] lighting, 154 washer, 443 microwave oven,
power and
236 dryer
voltage
features
Frequency and
S
amplitude of
Six electric appliances—television,
Cepstrum-sm the dominant
computer, monitor, refrigerator, washer N/A 0.5 s 96.37%
oothing [21] peaks in the
and vacuum cleaner (unknown sample
smoothed
size)
cepstrum
20 electric appliances—Fluorescent light,
91.8%,
light bulb, LED tube, LED light bulb,
94.1%,
electric stove, microwave oven, cooker,
Proposed Imax, Irms, Iavg, 94.4%,
ironbrush, vacuum cleaner, fan, hair 0.02 s (50
GA-SVM-MK Pact, Papp, Prea 10-fold 96.4%,
dryer, electric heater, notebook, desktop, Hz)
L and PF 98.6%
all in one printer and scanner, mobile
for TM1
charger, electric drill, electric sander, radio
to TM5
and television (each of 1500 samples)

It can be seen that the existing works [15–17,20] using detection interval of 8 s or 1-min interval,
which is far from using real-time data. There are two concerns for using these detection intervals.
First, the operation time of electric appliances is generally not a divider of 8 s or 1-min. It is difficult
to define the class label. On the other hand, it increases the difficulty for the classification, because (i)
detection interval of 8 s, researchers are expected to find out whether the actual operation time of
electric appliance is 1 s, 2 s, … or 8 s. (ii) detection interval of 1-min, likewise, the determination of
operation time of electric appliance equals 1 s, 2 s, … or 60 s is required. Thus, related works in
[15–17,20] achieve Se, Sp and OA less than 80%.
The detection intervals in [14,19,21] are 60 Hz, 0.5 s and 50 Hz respectively. For OA, these works
achieve 96.65% [14], 94.87% [19] and 96.37% [21]. However, these works only consider the NILM of 4
or 6 electric appliances, which is much less than that in this paper (20 electric appliances). Also,
previous works are lack of or without mentioned one of the most important part in the performance
evaluation, cross-validation. One can pick up a bias training dataset to train the classifier so that the
results are not convincing and reliable. In aforementioned related works, Se and Sp are not given,
which is believed to be important criteria to evaluate both the accuracies in determining the true
positive and true negative samples. It is noted that when Se and Sp are far from each other, the chance
of having bias in some classifiers (toward specific classes) is high.
By comparing the GA-SVM-MKL TM 1-TM5 with [14,19,21] their OAs are similar. Thus, it can
be concluded that the proposed method achieves good performance in NILM when the number of
electric appliances is extended to 20.
We have to comment on the adoption of this method in the real world. Smart metering on real
time basis is quite complicated research problem. The evolution of machine learning techniques
along with real time sensors and big data capabilities will increase our capacity to model, meter and
analyze behavioral patterns over energy consumption. This will help us a lot to understand the
Energies 2018, 11, 2869 15 of 20

linkages between behavior and energy consumption. From a decision support point of view,
irrelevant of the programing and development environments, e.g., smart grid, the key challenge is to
be capable of aggregating smart energy data for advanced computational processing. Within this
context some of the most challenging future research directions can be:
 Standardization of Smart Energy data sets;
 Interoperability in the Energy Smart Grid;
 Adoption of machine learning techniques for the provision and measurement of Behavioral
analytics;
 Integration of Smart Grid approaches in Energy Sector with a new era of Key Performance
Indicators (KPIs) and Energy Analytics;
 Large scale experimentation with millions of electrical devices for pattern analysis;
 Optimization of electricity consumption on real time basis based on smart energy data;
 Ontological Engineering and Semantic Annotation of smart energy data.

6. Conclusions
Considering the energy sustainability challenge cities/urban areas are exposed to today, the
objective of this paper was to examine ways of optimizing the use of electricity consumption and
suggest ways of employing these solutions in cities’/urban areas’ context. Specifically, the research
presented in this paper focused on the question of to what extent and how smart metering may
contribute to attaining greater efficiency of smart grid. The hypothesis underlying the research was
that an integrated approach consistent with engaging insights from (i) artificial intelligence,
cognitive computing and big data analytics, (ii) smart cities and smart villages research, and (iii)
energy sustainability debate, may yield novel findings. In fact, having employed a complex
methodology, as a result of research discussed in this paper a genetic algorithm support vector
machine multiple kernel learning (GA-SVM-MKL) approach has been proposed for NILM. A
customized kernel has been designed using typical kernel functions with kernel properties. This
approach is customized to specific problem, which is NILM for energy disaggregation. Applying
kernel properties in various types of kernels can increase the performance of the classifier. Three
objective functions have been solved for the optimal design of the classifier to detect 20 common
household electric appliances with five tunable modes. The effectiveness of GA-SVM-MKL has been
demonstrated. To this end, (i) 20 common types of of electric appliances have been considered,
which is far more than that in existing works (at most 10 as in Table 6); (ii) it achieves Se of
92.1–98.4%, Sp of 91.5–98.8% and OA of 91.8–98.6%; and (iii) tunable modes of GA-SVM-MKL is
introduced to enhance the classification performance by 7%.
The authors are aware of the limitations of this research. The consideration of the number of
types of appliance, the number of modes and brands, as well as the maximum number of appliance
is limited. The coverage of the dataset could be extended when it comes to large-scale study. In
addition, investigation of the feature extraction could be one of the solutions to further improve the
accuracy of the classifier.
The contribution of this paper to the research agenda outlined in the Special Issue titled
Artificial Intelligence for Smart Grid is multifold:
First, from a technical point of view it demonstrates the capacity of AI techniques to model
complex problems and to simulate optimized solutions. Furthermore, it proves the new era of
computational problems where the creation and consumption of big data requires efficient and
coherent approaches integrating IoT, big data analytics and AI algorithms:
 Insights from artificial intelligence (AI) and cognitive computing and the value added they
bring into the process of smart systems [32]
 Insights from smart cities as well as considerations specific to the debate on sustainability,
including the SDGs, and their value added consistent with an emphasis on wellbeing and
inclusive socio-economic growth and development [33,34]
Energies 2018, 11, 2869 16 of 20

 Insights from the broad field pertinent to energy supply and demand and related questions the
value added if ICT-driven coherent and effective policymaking [35–37].
Second, from a strategic management and sustainability point of view, this paper heralds the
onset of a new era of energy-focused data-driven decision-making. This new era defined by the
imperative of energy sustainability requires dynamic real time distributed infrastructure and
techniques to manage and utilize data flows from millions of devices (IoT), It also requires high
speed networks that can bring together all stakeholders, including energy produces, providers,
businesses, end-users, decisionmakers. This suggests that new research is needed that would focus
on the question of how blockchain technology may effectively serve this role [37]. Indeed, this is
subject of our research in-progress.
Additionally, the decision-making point of view, the arguments outlined in this paper suggest
that more attention needs to be devoted to the work in progress undertaken by key stakeholders
involved in efforts geared toward optimizing electricity consumption. This includes the key electric
appliances producers, as well as key actors involved in devising regulatory frameworks, incl. the
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the European Union (EU).
Arguably, several of actions undertaken by these actors would benefit from the findings discussed in
this paper.
In the direction of future research, several interesting new research areas promote the
interdisciplinary nature of sustainable smart energies research: Based on [38,39] the evolution of
individual smart data and smart metering techniques together with advanced Artificial Intelligence
and Machine Learning approaches will set up new challenges for intelligent energy agents.
Sophisticated and complicated modelling of energy consumption will also allow new analytical
processing and predicting capabilities [38]. The evolution of Data Mining, multidimensional data
based and distributed DataWarehouses, together with Cloud Services will promote the vision of
Enengies’ Software, Platform and Infrastructure as a Service [39,40]. In this direction, user behavior
and a behavioral analysis is directly linked, as is integrated behavioral analytics and smart energy
modelling, metering and solutions [41]. We plan very shortly to present a global survey on the social
impact of Big Data for Sustainable Energy.

Author Contributions: Conceptualization, K.T.C., M.D.L. and A.V.; Methodology, K.T.C.; Validation, K.T.C.,
M.D.L. and A.V.; Formal Analysis, K.T.C.; Writing-Original Draft Preparation, K.T.C., M.D.L. and A.V.;
Writing-Review & Editing, K.T.C., M.D.L. and A.V.

Funding: This research received no external funding. M.D.L. and A.V. would like to thank Effat University in
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, for offering resources for conducting research through the Research and Consultancy
Institute.

Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Appendix A

Table A1. Scenario setting for kNILM using properties 1–4 with typical kernels.
No. P kNILM No. P kNILM No. P kNILM No. P kNILM No. P kNILM
1 1 k1 + k1 2 1 k1 + k2 3 1 k1 + k3 4 1 k1 + k4 5 1 k1 + k5
6 1 k2 + k2 7 1 k2 + k3 8 1 k2 + k4 9 1 k2 + k5 10 1 k3 + k3
11 1 k3 + k4 12 1 k3 + k5 13 1 k4 + k4 14 1 k4 + k5 15 1 k5 + k5
16 2 ck1 17 2 ck2 18 2 ck3 19 2 ck4 20 2 ck5
21 3 k1 + c 22 3 k2 + c 23 3 k3 + c 24 3 k4 + c 25 3 k5 + c
26 4 k1k1 27 4 k1k2 28 4 k1k3 29 4 k1k4 30 4 k1k5
31 4 k2k2 32 4 k2k3 33 4 k2k4 34 4 k2k5 35 4 k3k3
36 4 k3k4 37 4 k3k5 38 4 k4k4 39 4 k4k5 40 4 k5k5
41 1.2 c1k1 + c2k2 42 1.2 ck1 + k2 43 1.2 k1 + ck2 44 1.2 c1k1 + c2k3 45 1.2 ck1 + k3
46 1.2 k1 + ck3 47 1.2 c1k1 + c2k4 48 1.2 ck1 + k4 49 1.2 k1 + ck4 50 1.2 c1k1 + c2k5
51 1.2 ck1 + k5 52 1.2 k1 + ck5 53 1.2 c1k2 + c2k3 54 1.2 ck2 + k3 55 1.2 k2 + ck3
56 1.2 c1k2 + c2k4 57 1.2 ck2 + k4 58 1.2 k2 + ck4 59 1.2 c1k2 + c2k5 60 1.2 ck2 + k5
61 1.2 k2 + ck5 62 1.2 c1k3 + c2k4 63 1.2 ck3 + k4 64 1.2 k3 + ck4 65 1.2 c1k3 + c2k5
66 1.2 ck3 + k5 67 1.2 k3 + ck5 68 1.2 c1k4 + c2k5 69 1.2 ck4 + k5 70 1.2 k4 + ck5
71 1.3 k1 + k1 + c 72 1.3 k1 + k2 + c 73 1.3 k1 + k3 + c 74 1.3 k1 + k4 + c 75 1.3 k1 + k5 + c
76 1.3 k2 + k2 + c 77 1.3 k2 + k3 + c 78 1.3 k2 + k4 + c 79 1.3 k2 + k5 + c 80 1.3 k3 + k3 + c
Energies 2018, 11, 2869 17 of 20

81 1.3 k3 + k4 + c 82 1.3 k3 + k5 + c 83 1.3 k4 + k4 + c 84 1.3 k4 + k5 + c 85 1.3 k5 + k5 + c

86 1.4 k1k1 + k1 87 1.4 k1k1 + k2 88 1.4 k1k1 + k3 89 1.4 k1k1 + k4 90 1.4 k1k1 + k5
91 1.4 k1k2 + k1 92 1.4 k1k2 + k2 93 1.4 k1k2 + k3 94 1.4 k1k2 + k4 95 1.4 k1k2 + k5
96 1.4 k1k3 + k1 97 1.4 k1k3 + k2 98 1.4 k1k3 + k3 99 1.4 k1k3 + k4 100 1.4 k1k3 + k5
101 1.4 k1k4 + k1 102 1.4 k1k4 + k2 103 1.4 k1k4 + k3 104 1.4 k1k4 + k4 105 1.4 k1k4 + k5
106 1.4 k1k5 + k1 107 1.4 k1k5 + k2 108 1.4 k1k5 + k3 109 1.4 k1k5 + k4 110 1.4 k1k5 + k5
111 1.4 k2k2 + k1 112 1.4 k2k2 + k2 113 1.4 k2k2 + k3 114 1.4 k2k2 + k4 115 1.4 k2k2 + k5
116 1.4 k2k3 + k1 117 1.4 k2k3 + k2 118 1.4 k2k3 + k3 119 1.4 k2k3 + k4 120 1.4 k2k3 + k5
121 1.4 k2k4 + k1 122 1.4 k2k4 + k2 123 1.4 k2k4 + k3 124 1.4 k2k4 + k4 125 1.4 k2k4 + k5
126 1.4 k2k5 + k1 127 1.4 k2k5 + k2 128 1.4 k2k5 + k3 129 1.4 k2k5 + k4 130 1.4 k2k5 + k5
131 1.4 k3k3 + k1 132 1.4 k3k3 + k2 133 1.4 k3k3 + k3 134 1.4 k3k3 + k4 135 1.4 k3k3 + k5
136 1.4 k3k4 + k1 137 1.4 k3k4 + k2 138 1.4 k3k4 + k3 139 1.4 k3k4 + k4 140 1.4 k3k4 + k5
141 1.4 k3k5 + k1 142 1.4 k3k5 + k2 143 1.4 k3k5 + k3 144 1.4 k3k5 + k4 145 1.4 k3k5 + k5
146 1.4 k4k4 + k1 147 1.4 k4k4 + k2 148 1.4 k4k4 + k3 149 1.4 k4k4 + k4 150 1.4 k4k4 + k5
151 1.4 k4k5 + k1 15yh72 1.4 k4k5 + k2 153 1.4 k4k5 + k3 154 1.4 k4k5 + k4 155 1.4 k4k5 + k5
156 1.4 k5k5 + k1 157 1.4 k5k5 + k2 158 1.4 k5k5 + k3 159 1.4 k5k5 + k4 160 1.4 k5k5 + k5
161 2.3 c1k1(k1 + c2) 162 2.3 c1k1(k2 + c2) 163 2.3 c1k1(k3 + c2) 164 2.3 c1k1(k4 + c2) 165 2.3 c1k1(k5 + c2)
166 2.3 c1k2(k1 + c2) 167 2.3 c1k2(k2 + c2) 168 2.3 c1k2(k3 + c2) 169 2.3 c1k2(k4 + c2) 170 2.3 c1k2(k5 + c2)
171 2.3 c1k3(k1 + c2) 172 2.3 c1k3(k2 + c2) 173 2.3 c1k3(k3 + c2) 174 2.3 c1k3(k4 + c2) 175 2.3 c1k3(k5 + c2)
176 2.3 c1k4(k1 + c2) 177 2.3 c1k4(k2 + c2) 178 2.3 c1k4(k3 + c2) 179 2.3 c1k4(k4 + c2) 180 2.3 c1k4(k5 + c2)
181 2.3 c1k5(k1 + c2) 182 2.3 c1k5(k2 + c2) 183 2.3 c1k5(k3 + c2) 184 2.3 c1k5(k4 + c2) 185 2.3 c1k5(k5 + c2)
186 2.4 ck1(k1k2) 187 2.4 ck1(k1k3) 188 2.4 ck1(k1k4) 189 2.4 ck1(k1k5) 190 2.4 ck1(k2k3)
191 2.4 ck1(k2k4) 192 2.4 ck1(k2k5) 193 2.4 ck1(k3k4) 194 2.4 ck1(k3k5) 195 2.4 ck1(k4k5)
196 2.4 ck2(k1k2) 197 2.4 ck2(k1k3) 198 2.4 ck2(k1k4) 199 2.4 ck2(k1k5) 200 2.4 ck2(k2k3)
201 2.4 ck2(k2k4) 202 2.4 ck2(k2k5) 203 2.4 ck2(k3k4) 204 2.4 ck2(k3k5) 205 2.4 ck2(k4k5)
206 2.4 ck3(k1k2) 207 2.4 ck3(k1k3) 208 2.4 ck3(k1k4) 209 2.4 ck3(k1k5) 210 2.4 ck3(k2k3)
211 2.4 ck3(k2k4) 212 2.4 ck3(k2k5) 213 2.4 ck3(k3k4) 214 2.4 ck3(k3k5) 215 2.4 ck3(k4k5)
216 2.4 ck4(k1k2) 217 2.4 ck4(k1k3) 218 2.4 ck4(k1k4) 219 2.4 ck4(k1k5) 220 2.4 ck4(k2k3)
221 2.4 ck4(k2k4) 222 2.4 ck4(k2k5) 223 2.4 ck4(k3k4) 224 2.4 ck4(k3k5) 225 2.4 ck4(k4k5)
226 2.4 ck5(k1k2) 227 2.4 ck5(k1k3) 228 2.4 ck5(k1k4) 229 2.4 ck5(k1k5) 230 2.4 ck5(k2k3)
231 2.4 ck5(k2k4) 232 2.4 ck5(k2k5) 233 2.4 ck5(k3k4) 234 2.4 ck5(k3k5) 235 2.4 ck5(k4k5)
236 3.4 (k1 + c)k1k2 237 3.4 (k1 + c)k1k3 238 3.4 (k1 + c)k1k4 239 3.4 (k1 + c)k1k5 240 3.4 (k1 + c)k2k3
241 3.4 (k1 + c)k2k4 242 3.4 (k1 + c)k2k5 243 3.4 (k1 + c)k3k4 244 3.4 (k1 + c)k3k5 245 3.4 (k1 + c)k4k5
246 3.4 (k2 + c)k1k2 247 3.4 (k2 + c)k1k3 248 3.4 (k2 + c)k1k4 249 3.4 (k2 + c)k1k5 250 3.4 (k2 + c)k2k3
251 3.4 (k2 + c)k2k4 252 3.4 (k2 + c)k2k5 253 3.4 (k2 + c)k3k4 254 3.4 (k2 + c)k3k5 255 3.4 (k2 + c)k4k5
256 3.4 (k3 + c)k1k2 257 3.4 (k3 + c)k1k3 258 3.4 (k3 + c)k1k4 259 3.4 (k3 + c)k1k5 260 3.4 (k3 + c)k2k3
261 3.4 (k3 + c)k2k4 262 3.4 (k3 + c)k2k5 263 3.4 (k3 + c)k3k4 264 3.4 (k3 + c)k3k5 265 3.4 (k3 + c)k4k5
266 3.4 (k4 + c)k1k2 267 3.4 (k4 + c)k1k3 268 3.4 (k4 + c)k1k4 269 3.4 (k4 + c)k1k5 270 3.4 (k4 + c)k2k3
271 3.4 (k4 + c)k2k4 272 3.4 (k4 + c)k2k5 273 3.4 (k4 + c)k3k4 274 3.4 (k4 + c)k3k5 275 3.4 (k4 + c)k4k5
276 3.4 (k5 + c)k1k2 277 3.4 (k5 + c)k1k3 278 3.4 (k5 + c)k1k4 279 3.4 (k5 + c)k1k5 280 3.4 (k5 + c)k2k3
281 3.4 (k5 + c)k2k4 282 3.4 (k5 + c)k2k5 283 3.4 (k5 + c)k3k4 284 3.4 (k5 + c)k3k5 285 3.4 (k5 + c)k4k5

Table A2. Optimal Design of GA-SVM-MKL Classifier in 285 Scenario using Various Kernel and
Kernel Properties.
Performance (%) Performance (%) Performance (%) Performance (%) Performance (%)
No. No. No. No. No.
Se Sp OA Se Sp OA Se Sp OA Se Sp OA Se Sp OA
1 71.8 72.3 72.1 2 73.1 72.7 72.9 3 75.3 76.3 75.8 4 76.4 75.9 76.2 5 72.9 73.6 73.3
6 72.4 72.7 72.6 7 75.7 76.4 76.1 8 78.5 78.8 78.7 9 75.7 76.1 75.9 10 74.8 75.4 75.1
11 79.3 80.1 79.7 12 76.9 77.8 77.4 13 76.5 77.1 76.8 14 77.1 76.2 76.7 15 75.4 74.2 74.8
16 73.4 72.9 73.2 17 74.9 75.3 75.1 18 75.9 76.1 76 19 78.2 78.8 78.5 20 76.2 75.8 76
21 71.9 72.6 72.3 22 74.6 75.1 74.9 23 75.3 76.3 75.8 24 76.7 77.3 77 25 76.8 76.0 76.4
26 70.8 71.5 71.2 27 72.6 72.8 72.7 28 73.6 73.4 73.5 29 75.7 76.3 76 30 73.3 72.9 73.1
31 70.3 71.9 71.1 32 75.1 74.5 74.8 33 78.2 77.6 77.9 34 75.3 76.8 76.1 35 72.9 73.7 73.3
36 77.4 78.4 77.9 37 76.4 77.5 77.0 38 76.3 75.6 76.0 39 76.8 75.3 76.1 40 72.8 73.1 73.0
41 80.3 81.4 80.9 42 79.4 78.8 79.1 43 79.5 78.5 79 44 82.7 83.7 83.2 45 79.4 78.6 79
46 80.4 81.1 80.8 47 84.3 85.1 84.7 48 81.8 82.3 82.1 49 82.4 82.9 82.7 50 81.5 82.4 82.0
51 78.6 79.5 79.1 52 80.1 81.4 80.8 53 83.9 82.9 83.4 54 82.7 81.6 82.2 55 83.5 84.2 83.9
56 85.6 84.9 85.3 57 84.5 84.9 84.7 58 85.3 86.2 85.8 59 84.3 83.6 84.0 60 82.5 83.1 82.8
61 83.5 84.0 83.8 62 86.8 87.2 87 63 85.7 86.4 86.1 64 85.3 85.7 85.5 65 85.2 86.3 85.8
66 84.8 84.2 84.5 67 84.3 85.4 84.9 68 87.3 86.9 87.1 69 85.4 86.7 86.1 70 86.1 86.6 86.4
71 73.4 72.5 73.0 72 74.5 73.8 74.2 73 77.1 76.2 76.7 74 77.5 76.9 77.2 75 75.6 74.9 75.3
76 73.8 74.5 74.2 77 76.3 77.1 76.7 78 79.9 78.5 79.2 79 77.3 78.4 77.9 80 76.3 77.6 77.0
81 81.2 80.6 80.9 82 78.5 79.1 78.8 83 76.8 77.7 77.3 84 76.3 77.4 76.9 85 76.4 75.3 75.9
86 72.4 73.4 72.9 87 73.5 74.2 73.9 88 74.8 75.6 75.2 89 75.6 76.2 75.9 90 74.6 75.1 74.9
91 74.2 73.6 73.9 92 74.1 75.9 75 93 74.3 74.9 74.6 94 76.3 77.4 76.9 95 75.2 74.6 74.9
96 74.5 75.6 75.1 97 75.3 76.2 75.8 98 75.6 76.5 76.1 99 77.8 78.2 78 100 77.4 76.3 76.9
101 75.8 76.4 76.1 102 77.4 78.4 77.9 103 77.5 76.3 76.9 104 80.1 79.7 79.9 105 78.4 79.6 79
106 76.1 75.9 76 107 76.7 77.9 77.3 108 75.4 76.6 76 109 75.7 76.1 75.9 110 74.2 75.8 75
111 73.4 74.8 74.1 112 75.1 74.7 74.9 113 75.1 76.3 75.7 114 75.9 76.7 76.3 115 76.8 75.3 76.1
116 74.8 75.6 75.2 117 75.5 76.1 75.8 118 77.5 76.2 76.9 119 78.1 78.9 78.5 120 77.3 78.2 77.8
121 75.1 75.2 75.2 122 77.4 76.7 77.1 123 77.3 78.9 78.1 124 79.5 78.9 79.2 125 76.3 75.8 76.1
126 75.3 74.5 74.9 127 76.4 77.1 76.8 128 76.1 76.4 76.3 129 78.3 77.3 77.8 130 76.8 75.9 76.4
131 75.4 74.6 75 132 75.8 76.8 76.3 133 76.2 77.3 76.8 134 77.3 76.4 76.9 135 76.8 76.4 76.6
136 76.4 76.2 76.3 137 78.4 77.9 78.2 138 78.1 79.3 78.7 139 81.2 80.4 80.8 140 80.9 80.4 80.7
141 76.4 75.3 75.9 142 76.8 77.4 77.1 143 78.4 79.5 79.0 144 79.6 80.1 79.9 145 79.9 78.9 79.4
Energies 2018, 11, 2869 18 of 20

146 75.6 76.3 76.0 147 76.2 76.1 76.2 148 77.5 78.4 78.0 149 79.4 78.8 79.1 150 77.9 78.4 78.2
151 75.6 74.8 75.2 152 76.4 76.7 76.6 153 75.6 75.3 75.5 154 78.6 79.1 78.9 155 77.5 78.1 77.8
156 74.6 73.5 74.1 157 74.9 75.8 75.4 158 74.3 75.9 75.1 159 77.6 75.9 76.8 160 75.3 76.3 75.8
161 81.9 82.4 82.2 162 81.8 82.3 82.1 163 83.6 84.6 84.1 164 84.1 84.6 84.4 165 83.3 84.1 83.7
166 83.4 82.7 83.1 167 82.3 83.8 83.1 168 83.5 84.1 83.8 169 84.8 85.7 85.3 170 85.1 84.9 85
171 86.1 85.7 85.9 172 86.8 87.2 87 173 88.9 87.5 88.2 174 91.5 90.3 90.9 175 91.2 90.8 91
176 88.9 89.5 89.2 177 88.6 89.8 89.2 178 92.1 91.5 91.8 179 91.2 91.5 91.4 180 90.3 90.1 90.2
181 88.5 89.2 88.9 182 88.8 89.6 89.2 183 88.3 89.2 88.8 184 88.4 89.7 89.1 185 88.5 89.1 88.8
186 83.1 82.5 82.8 187 83.4 84.1 83.8 188 85.6 84.7 85.2 189 83.9 84.2 84.1 190 83.9 84.5 84.2
191 85.3 86.1 85.7 192 83.7 84.1 83.9 193 85.2 84.6 84.9 194 83.8 82.9 83.4 195 84.1 83.7 83.9
196 83.4 82.7 83.1 197 84.3 85.1 84.7 198 86.3 85.8 86.1 199 84.8 85.7 85.3 200 85.5 86.2 85.9
201 85.7 86.3 86 202 84.9 85.1 85 203 86.1 87.3 86.7 204 84.9 85.3 85.1 205 85.2 86.2 85.7
206 84.5 85.1 84.8 207 85.7 86.8 86.3 208 86.2 86.4 86.3 209 85.9 84.8 85.4 210 84.6 84.9 84.8
211 85.2 86.4 85.8 212 85.7 86.5 86.1 213 86.7 87.1 86.9 214 86.3 87.4 86.9 215 86.7 87.2 87.0
216 85.8 86.7 86.3 217 88.2 87.1 87.7 218 87.8 88.5 88.2 219 86.3 87.2 86.8 220 85.1 86.3 85.7
221 86.6 87.3 87.0 222 87.3 86.4 86.9 223 88.9 88.2 88.6 224 86.7 87.5 87.1 225 87.5 88.2 87.9
226 85.6 86.8 86.2 227 86.3 87.3 86.8 228 86.1 85.9 86 229 85.4 85.8 85.6 230 85.9 84.3 85.1
231 84.6 85.1 84.9 232 86.1 87.4 86.8 233 87.1 86.4 86.8 234 86.3 87.8 87.1 235 85.2 86.3 85.8
236 83.4 84.9 84.2 237 83.3 84.1 83.7 238 84.9 85.6 85.3 239 84.7 85.1 84.9 240 85.8 86.6 86.2
241 86.1 86.7 86.4 242 85.6 84.8 85.2 243 86.7 85.9 86.3 244 85.3 84.1 84.7 245 85.1 85.9 85.5
246 86.1 85.3 85.7 247 86.2 85.6 85.9 248 87.1 86.3 86.7 249 86.2 85.9 86.1 250 86.1 86.8 86.5
251 87.2 86.4 86.8 252 86.7 85.7 86.2 253 87.8 88.3 88.1 254 86.7 86.5 86.6 255 86.3 87.3 86.8
256 86.4 87.3 86.9 257 86.9 85.8 86.4 258 86.3 87.3 86.8 259 87.1 86.3 86.7 260 87.5 88.1 87.8
261 86.9 87.6 87.3 262 87.4 88.1 87.8 263 89.4 88.4 88.9 264 87.4 86.7 87.1 265 87.4 87.9 87.7
266 86.3 87.4 86.9 267 86.9 87.5 87.2 268 88.2 87.1 87.7 269 85.7 86.4 86.1 270 86.7 87.5 87.1
271 87.5 86.7 87.1 272 87.4 88.3 87.9 273 88.4 87.5 88.0 274 88.6 89.2 88.9 275 86.9 87.2 87.1
276 86.7 86.8 86.8 277 87.1 86.5 86.8 278 88.5 87.5 88 279 86.3 87.2 86.8 280 86.5 86.8 86.7
281 86.4 87.1 86.8 282 86.7 87.8 87.3 283 87.5 88.6 88.1 284 87.1 87.5 87.3 285 86.7 87.9 87.3

Figure A1. Probability distribution of overall accuracy for optimal design of GA-SVM-MKL classifier
in 285 scenario using various kernel and kernel properties.

References
1. Yao, S.L.; Luo, J.J.; Huang, G.; Wang, P. Distinct global warming rates tied to multiple ocean surface
temperature changes. Nat. Clim. Chang. 2017, 7, 486.
2. Voigt, C.; Lamprecht, R.E.; Marushchak, M.E.; Lind, S.E.; Novakovskiy, A.; Aurela, M.; Martikainen, P.J.;
Biasi, C. Warming of subarctic tundra increases emissions of all three important greenhouse gases–carbon
dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. Glob. Chang. Biol. 2017, 23, 3121–3138.
3. Sharma, K.; Saini, L.M. Performance analysis of smart metering for smart grid: An overview. Renew.
Sustain. Energy Rev. 2015, 49, 720–735.
4. The Smart Meter Revolution Towards a Smarter Future; Telefonica: London, UK, 2014.
5. Malvoni, M.; De Giorgi, M.G.; Congedo, P.M. Photovoltaic forecast based on hybrid PCA–LSSVM using
dimensionality reducted data. Neurocomputing 2016, 211, 72–83, doi:10.1016/j.neucom.2016.01.104.
6. Alahakoon, D.; Yu, X. Smart electricity meter data intelligence for future energy systems: A survey. IEEE
Trans. Ind. Inform. 2016, 12, 425–436.
7. Armel, K.C.; Gupta, A.; Shrimali, G.; Albert, A. Is disaggregation the holy grail of energy efficiency? The
case of electricity. Energy Policy 2013, 52, 213–234.
8. Zoha, A.; Gluhak, A.; Imran, M.A.; Rajasegarar, S. Non-intrusive load monitoring approaches for
disaggregated energy sensing: A survey. Sensors 2012, 12, 16838–16866.
Energies 2018, 11, 2869 19 of 20

9. Gillis, J.M.; Alshareef, S.M.; Morsi, W.G. Nonintrusive load monitoring using wavelet design and machine
learning. IEEE Trans. Smart Grid 2016, 7, 320–328.
10. Stankovic, L.; Stankovic, V.; Liao, J.; Wilson, C. Measuring the energy intensity of domestic activities from
smart meter data. Appl. Energy 2016, 183, 1565–1580.
11. Zhao, B.; Stankovic, L.; Stankovic, V. On a training-less solution for non-intrusive appliance load
monitoring using graph signal processing. IEEE Access 2016, 4, 1784–1799.
12. Aiad, M.; Lee, P.H. Non-intrusive load disaggregation with adaptive estimations of devices main power
effects and two-way interactions. Energy Build. 2016, 130, 131–139.
13. Parson, O.; Ghosh, S.; Weal, M.; Rogers, A. An unsupervised training method for non-intrusive appliance
load monitoring. Artif. Intell. 2014, 217, 1–19.
14. Tsai, M.S.; Lin, Y.H. Modern development of an adaptive non-intrusive appliance load monitoring system
in electricity energy conservation. Appl. Energy 2012, 96, 55–73.
15. Giri, S.; Berges, M. An energy estimation framework for event-based methods in non-intrusive load
monitoring. Energy Convers. Manag. 2015, 90, 488–498.
16. Kong, S.; Kim, Y.; Ko, R.; Joo, S.K. Home appliance load disaggregation using cepstrum-smoothing-based
method. IEEE Trans. Consum. Electron. 2015, 61, 24–30.
17. McLachlan, G.J.; Do, K.A.; Ambroise, C. Supervised classification of tissue samples. In Analyzing
Microarray Gene Expression Data; John Wiley & Sons Inc.: Hoboken, NJ, USA, 2004; pp. 221–251.
18. Refaeilzadeh, P.; Tang, L.; Liu, H. Cross-validation. In Encyclopedia of Database Systems; Springer: Boston,
MA, USA, 2009; pp. 532–538.
19. Ritchie, M.D.; Hahn, L.W.; Roodi, N.; Bailey, L.R.; Dupont, W.D.; Parl, F.F.; Moore, J.H.
Multifactor-dimensionality reduction reveals high-order interactions among estrogen-metabolism genes
in sporadic breast cancer. Am. J. Hum. Genet. 2001, 69, 138–147.
20. Deb, K. Multi-Objective, Search Methodologies; Springer: Berlin, Germany, 2014.
21. Wang, Y.; Cai, Z. Combining Multiobjective Optimization with Differential Evolution to Solve
Constrained Optimization Problems. IEEE Trans. Evol. Comput. 2012, 16, 117–134.
22. Shim, V.A.; Tan, K.C.; Tang, H. Adaptive Memetic Computing for Evolutionary Multiobjective
Optimization. IEEE Trans. Cybern. 2015, 45, 610–621.
23. Hsu, C.W.; Lin, C.J. A comparison of methods for multiclass support vector machine. IEEE Trans. Neural
Netw. 2002, 13, 415–425.
24. Herbrich, R. Learning Kernel Classifiers Theory and Algorithms; The MIT Press: London, UK, 2002.
25. Marzband, M.; Sumper, A.; Domínguez-García, J.L.; Gumara-Ferret, R. Experimental validation of a real
time energy management system for microgrids in islanded mode using a local day-ahead electricity
market and MINLP. Energy Convers. Manag. 2013, 76, 314–322.
26. Marzband, M.; Azarinejadian, F.; Savaghebi, M.; Pouresmaeil, E.; Guerrero, J.M.; Lightbody, G. Smart
transactive energy framework in grid-connected multiple home microgrids under independent and
coalition operations. Renew. Energy 2018, 126, 95–106.
27. Marzband, M.; Fouladfar, M.H.; Akorede, M.F.; Lightbody, G.; Pouresmaeil, E. Framework for smart
transactive energy in home-microgrids considering coalition formation and demand side management.
Sustain. Cities Soc. 2018, 40, 136–154.
28. Tavakoli, M.; Shokridehaki, F.; Akorede, M.F.; Marzband, M.; Vechiu, I.; Pouresmaeil, E. CVaR-based
energy management scheme for optimal resilience and operational cost in commercial building
microgrids. Int. J. Electr. Power Energy Syst. 2018, 100, 1–9.
29. Marzband, M.; Javadi, M.; Pourmousavi, S.A.; Lightbody, G. An advanced retail electricity market for
active distribution systems and home microgrid interoperability based on game theory. Electr. Power Syst.
Res. 2018, 157, 187–199.
30. Tavakoli, M.; Shokridehaki, F.; Marzband, M.; Godina, R.; Pouresmaeil, E. A Two Stage Hierarchical
Control Approach for the Optimal Energy Management in Commercial Building Microgrids Based on
Local Wind Power and PEVs. Sustain. Cities Soc. 2018, 41, 332–340.
31. Selvakumar, A.I.; Thanushkodi, K. A new particle swarm optimization solution to nonconvex economic
dispatch problems. IEEE Trans. Power Syst. 2007, 22, 42–51.
32. Lytras, M.D.; Raghavan, V.; Damiani, E. Big data and data analytics research: From metaphors to value
space for collective wisdom in human decision making and smart machines. Int. J. Semant. Web Inf. Syst.
(IJSWIS) 2017, 13, 1–10.
Energies 2018, 11, 2869 20 of 20

33. Lytras, M.; Visvizi, A. Who uses smart city services and what to make of it: Toward interdisciplinary smart
cities research. Sustainability 2018, 10, 1998.
34. Visvizi, A.; Lytras, M.D. Rescaling and refocusing smart cities research: From mega cities to smart villages.
J. Sci. Technol. Policy Manag. 2018, 9, 134–145.
35. Visvizi, A.; Lytras, M.D. Smart Cities: Issues and Challenges; Elsevier-US: New York, NY, USA, 2019.
36. Visvizi, A.; Lytras, M.D. Editorial: Policy Making for Smart Cities: Innovation and Social Inclusive
Economic Growth for Sustainability. J. Sci. Technol. Policy Manag. 2018, 9, 126–133.
37. Sicilia, M.A.; Visvizi, A. Blockchain and OECD data repositories: Opportunities and policymaking
implications. Libr. Hi Tech 2018, doi:10.1108/LHT-12-2017-0276.
38. Malvoni, M.; De Giorgi, M.G.; Congedo, P.M. Forecasting of PV Power Generation using weather input
data-preprocessing techniques. Energy Procedia 2017, 126, 651–658, doi:10.1016/j.egypro.2017.08.293.
39. Gajowniczek, K.; Ząbkowski, T. Two-stage electricity demand modelling using machine learning
algorithms. Energies 2017, 10, 1547.
40. Singh, S.; Yassine, A. Big Data Mining of Energy Time Series for Behavioral Analytics and Energy
Consumption Forecasting. Energies 2018, 11, 452.
41. Gajowniczek, K.; Ząbkowski, T. Short term electricity forecasting based on user behavior using individual
smart meter data. Intell. Fuzzy Syst. 2015, 30, 223–234.

© 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access
article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution
(CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).