Energy management system and methods for the optimization of distributed generation

A method of selecting an energy source option, the method comprising:

• continuously monitoring an electrical energy load and a thermal energy load, and determining a current energy requirement, the current energy requirement including a current electrical energy requirement and a current heat energy requirement;
• determining a first energy source option which satisfies the current energy requirement, the first energy source option having a first remote source component and a first local source component, the first remote source component being indicative of a first amount of energy to be purchased from a centralized energy generator, the first local source component being indicative of a first amount of energy to be generated by a distributed energy generator;
• determining a second energy source option which satisfies the current energy requirement, the second energy source option having a second remote source component and a second local source component, the second remote source component being indicative of a second amount of energy to be purchased from the centralized energy generator, the second local source component being indicative of a second amount of energy to be generated by the distributed energy generator;
• determining a current electrical energy cost and a current heat energy cost;
• determining a current electrical energy availability and a current heat energy availability;
• determining an energy model, the energy model including a time period, a putative electrical energy requirement associated with the time period, a putative electrical energy cost associated with the time period, a putative heat energy requirement associated with the time period, and a putative heat energy cost associated with the time period;
• and
• selecting the first energy source option instead of the second energy source option based on the current electrical energy cost, the current heat energy cost, the current electrical energy availability, the current heat energy availability, and the energy model, and wherein selecting the first energy source option instead of the second energy source option comprises the step of executing a fuzzy logic algorithm.