Methodology for smart energy performance in rural zones of Colombia

The developing of Smart Cities is one of the most important issues that governments are addressing in their agendas. The concept of Smart City is based on urban development that takes into account the environmental footprint to improve the living quality of the residents. Energy savings are a basic component of this concept. The main focus has been on the smart development of the big metropolitan areas; however, a new trend has emerged where rural areas are considered an attractive possibility to implement these energy efficiency technologies This research aim to show the importance of developing energy efficiency technologies for the rural areas since it is estimated that the needs of energy access are 80% in rural zones. This article is focused on rural areas in Colombia where 70% of small towns are far or isolated from the electrical network. The aim is to develop a methodology to evaluate the current situation and find solutions to optimize the energy efficiency. As a case study, the city of Inirida was analyzed finding that there are existing inefficiencies in the generation, transport and final use of the electrical energy. Possible solutions include changing the public lights bulbs from incandescent to LED lights, and the use of more energy efficient appliances such as refrigerators, in both cases, the investment can be recovered in two years. Other solutions such as smart metering or renewable distributed generation were also considered and found viable.