How can we tackle energy efficiency in IoT based smart buildings?

Area of Science:

• Building Science
• Energy Management
• Sustainable Architecture

Background:

• Increasing demand for complex building performance requirements, with energy efficiency as a global priority for planetary energy sustainability.
• Emerging approaches link building energy consumption patterns to human occupancy.
• The need for optimized building energy management systems (BEMS) to address these evolving demands.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze and identify critical parameters for effective building energy management.
• To guide designers in selecting relevant parameters for controlling building energy consumption based on specific contexts.
• To provide input data for BEMS to enhance energy efficiency.

Main Methods:

• Selection of three reference smart buildings with diverse contexts for deploying an automation platform for energy monitoring.
• Experimental validation of identified parameters' influence on building energy consumption.
• Application of diverse control strategies in two buildings to achieve electrical energy savings.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated the significant influence of identified parameters on building energy consumption through experiments.
• Successful implementation of control strategies leading to measurable energy savings.
• Achieved approximately 23% energy savings in the initial stages of evaluation within a real-world scenario.

Conclusions:

• The analysis provides a framework for selecting essential parameters in building energy management.
• The developed automation platform and control strategies are effective in enhancing energy efficiency in smart buildings.
• The findings offer a practical approach to achieving substantial energy savings, contributing to global energy sustainability goals.