Commercial buildings’ consumption is driven by multiple factors that include occupancy, system and equipment efficiency, thermal heat transfer, equipment plug loads, maintenance and operational procedures, and outdoor and indoor temperatures. A modern building energy system can be viewed as a complex dynamical system that is interconnected and influenced by external and internal factors. Modern large scale sensor measures some physical signals to monitor real-time system behaviors. Such data has the potentials to detect anomalies, identify consumption patterns, and analyze peak loads. The paper proposes a novel method to detect hidden anomalies in commercial building energy consumption system. The framework is based on Hilbert-Huang transform and instantaneous frequency analysis. The objectives are to develop an automated data pre-processing system that can detect anomalies and provide solutions with real-time consumption database using Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition (EEMD) method. The finding of this paper will also include the comparisons of Empirical mode decomposition and Ensemble empirical mode decomposition of three important type of institutional buildings.

The estimation of energy demand (by power plants) has traditionally relied on historical energy use data for the region(s) that a plant produces for. Regression analysis, artificial neural network and Bayesian theory are the most common approaches for analysing these data. Such data and techniques do not generate reliable results. Consequently, excess energy has to be generated to prevent blackout; causes for energy surge are not easily determined; and potential energy use reduction from energy efficiency solutions is usually not translated into actual energy use reduction. The paper highlights the weaknesses of traditional techniques, and lays out a framework to improve the prediction of energy demand by combining energy use models of equipment, physical systems and buildings, with the proposed data mining algorithms for reverse engineering. The research team first analyses data samples from large complex energy data, and then, presents a set of computationally efficient data mining algorithms for reverse engineering. In order to develop a structural system model for reverse engineering, two focus groups are developed that has direct relation with cause and effect variables. The research findings of this paper includes testing out different sets of reverse engineering algorithms, understand their output patterns and modify algorithms to elevate accuracy of the outputs.

Brazil has had issues in efficiently providing the required amount of electricity to its citizens at a low cost. One of the main causes to the decreasing performance of energy is due to reoccurring droughts that decrease the power generated by hydroelectric facilities. To compensate for the decrease, Brazil brought into use thermal power plants. The power plants being on average 23.7% more expensive than hydroelectric. Wind energy is potentially an alternative source of energy to compensate for the energy decrease during droughts. Brazil has invested in wind farms recently, but, due to issues with the delivery method, only 34% of wind farms are operational. This paper reviews the potential benefit Brazil could receive from investing more resources into developing and operating wind farms. It also proposes that utilization of the best value approach in delivering wind farms could produce operational wind farms quicker and more efficiently than previously experienced.

The Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) is a longstanding, geographically distributed partnership between a network of libraries and the U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO). The goal of the FDLP is to provide permanent no-fee public access to federal government information. Academic and research libraries make up the bulk of participants in the program and are essential to achieving this objective.

The combined force of the rapidly changing landscape for academic library collections and services, and the transition of government information resources to be almost entirely web-based, has led to the need and opportunity for the FDLP to adapt. Advocating for modernization and change from within the program is a community effort, and a variety of strategies can – and have – achieved meaningful change. Countering the traditional narrative that change to federal agency programs requires Congressional intervention, we see in practice that the FDLP is responsive to community engagement and relies on knowledgeable professionals serving as advocates both in formally appointed roles and as community leaders acting within professional associations and as part of independent organizations.

This chapter will highlight ways in which the FDLP has changed in response to community advocacy, discussing methods that individual advocates and organizations of varying sizes can use to have influence on the direction of the program. We will describe the changing trajectory of the Depository Library Council, the committee that formally advises the GPO Director and the Superintendent of Documents, which has shifted over the last two decades to encompass policy issues as well as operational practices. We will also present a recent successful, non-legislative advocacy route that has brought about significant reprioritization and change to the future direction of the program – the GPO Director’s Task Force to Study the Feasibility of a Digital FDLP, which in just under a year researched and wrote a report recommending considerations and methods for transitioning to a digital program.

Active participation in the modern FDLP is a crucial means by which academic and research libraries can serve the current and future needs of researchers, teachers, and learners. The sustainability and effectiveness of this program is therefore a public policy issue that affects the interests of academic libraries; fortunately, there are many avenues to advocacy that can make a lasting impact on the FDLP as a public good. Engaging in advocacy within the FDLP can also align with professional service requirements or expectations for academic appointees, and providing professional expertise to agency representatives steers well clear of most prohibitions on political activity at publicly-funded institutions. By advocating for changes that improve the value proposition and long-term stability of the FDLP, academic and research library workers can support the shared common goods of achievable participation that leads to a stronger FDLP and more access to federal government information for all.