Towards a blockchain and machine learning-based framework for decentralised energy management

In most domestic buildings, gas and electricity are supplied by energy and utility companies through centralised energy systems. This often results in a high burden on central management systems and has adverse effects on energy prices. Blockchain-based peer-to-peer energy trading platforms can deliver strategic operation of decentralised multi-energy network among multiple domestic buildings to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions and address global climate change issues. However, prevailing blockchain-based energy trading platforms focused on system implementation for peer-to-peer electricity trading while lacking predictive control and energy scheduling optimisation. Therefore, this paper presents an integrated blockchain and machine learningbased energy management framework for multiple forms of energy (i.e., heat and electricity) allocation and transmission, among multiple domestic buildings. Machine learning is harnessed to predict day-ahead energy generation and consumption patterns of prosumers and consumers within the multi-energy network. The proposed blockchain and machine learning-based decentralised energy management framework will establish optimal and automated energy allocation among multiple energy users through peer-to-peer energy transactions. This approach focuses on energy-matching from both the supply and demand sides while encouraging direct energy trading between prosumers and consumers. The security and fairness of energy trading can also be enhanced by using smart contracts to strictly execute the energy trading and bill payment rules. A case study of 4 real-life domestic buildings is introduced to determine the economic and technical potential of the proposed framework. In comparison to prevailing approaches, a key benefit from the proposed approach is an improved computational load/failure of a single point, energy trading strategy, workload, and capital cost energy. Findings suggest that energy costs reduced between 7.60% and 25.41% for prosumer buildings and a fall of 5.40%-17.63% for consumer buildings. In practical applications, the proposed approach can involve a larger number of prosumer and consumer buildings within the community to decentralise multiple energy trading, thus significantly contributing to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and enhancing environmental sustainability.