Development of renewable energy means that there is a growing demand for technology that helps to manage and consume it in an optimal way, using more energy when it is produced on sunny/ windy days, preferably at the place of production, and avoiding long-distance transmission. This opens the field for solutions based on the Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, advanced demand management, and the concept of smart energy. The creation of a smart home energy management system (HEMS), which will help end users to manage the produced electricity, was the goal of the project entitled “e-balance – Balancing Energy Production and Consumption in Energy Efficient Smart Neighbourhoods”. Research with potential users carried out within the project showed that the existence of such systems in the home environment redefines the concept of electricity, which becomes tangible and always present in sight. Users also expected that the system would significantly reduce their electricity bills, an expectation which is not always confirmed by economic simulations. This means that the final solution will have to take account of other types of motivation and engagement, e.g., environmental ones. The paper presents conclusions from quantitative and qualitative research conducted within the “e-balance” project in Poland, Portugal, and the Netherlands.

The aim of this paper is to identify and assess the formation of employees’ readiness to implement the green human resources management (GHRM) concept according to two research approaches: an instrumental and change-based approach, as well as to demonstrate the influence of selected individual antecedents on the formation of this readiness in business practice. The aim of the study was achieved through empirical research conducted using a survey method on a sample of 214 employees and managers from Poland. The results obtained indicate a high level of readiness of the respondents to implement the GHRM concept in their companies, regardless of the measurement method used. Moreover, it was shown that personal environmental norms, following the new environmental paradigm as well as organizational citizenship behaviors towards the environment (OCBE), significantly and positively shape the level of readiness for GHRM in the surveyed group. In contrast, there was no significant effect of individual readiness for change on employees’ readiness levels. This study makes an original and novel contribution to the literature by proposing different approaches to measuring employees’ GHRM readiness. The conclusions formulated address the implementation factors of the GHRM, enabling a more effective implementation of this concept into business practice.

E3S Web of Conferences, open access proceedings in environment, energy and earth sciences

This paper presents the results of the work on Business Models (BM) for the e-balance project that aims to create an application for balancing local production and consumption of energy in an intelligent and cost-effective environment. The consumer's needs were investigated and consumers' profiles were defined. These profiles were determined by conducting social research in three countries on the requirements for the e-balance application. The test results provide a good basis for the first Business Model description for the proposed services, well fitted in with customers' needs using the BM approach. In this paper the business model verification method for the e-balance project is shortly presented, and the first stage of the BM consideration and results are described.

The paper discuss the active Demand Response (DR) problem for large distributed groups of small consumers, and subjects of trading demand elasticity as a product on energy markets. Organization of DR activities in such case is usually considered as a system of three basic functional entities: an energy supplier (i.e. market operator), an aggregator (technical organizer) and an user. The problem of defining the settlement parameters between these stakeholders is usually carried out in the form of a hierarchical optimisation model, maximising profits from trading the resulting flexible energy product. In circumstances when market power of the supplier is not strong enough to impose on the aggregator such monopolistic solution, a more realistic approach may be necessary, relying on use a negotiation approach. In the paper we present the potential profitability simulation study and the results for both cases.