Abstract

Engineers love to measure stuff. Knowing the correct answer is a simple joy. But ultimately what matters is not the data but what we can do with it.

Uncertainties exist in all Engineering systems and decisions such as design, control, and maintenance need to be made accounting for the statistics of the system.

By gathering data through measurement we can reduce these uncertainties and improve our decision making ability. But gathering data is often costly.

So is gathering more data about our system actually worth the cost? How strong is our existing statistical understanding of the system we’re studying? Is it good enough for the decisions we need to make? Do we have enough data already?

This talk will explore a method for quantifying whether data collection is worthwhile for supporting decision making (called Value of Information analysis), and what it can tell us about how we should use data to support the design of energy systems.