Interoperable ICT platform for energy efficient smart buildings

Europe’s objective under the 20-20-20 target is to reduce energy consumption by 20 % and increase the renewable energy sources by 20 % in the overall energy mix. The European Union currently imports two third of its oil and gas which makes it the world’s leading importer of these fuels. Due to increasing energy prices and relatively high percentage of building related energy consumption much effort is invested for energy efficient buildings. Apart from meaningful building insulation measures, the only means of achieving marked improvements in the energy efficiency of buildings is to make use of efficient building automation technologies which comprises performance monitoring, analysis and intelligent control. This research addresses the need for integration concepts, holistic monitoring and analysis methodologies, life-cycle oriented decision support and scenario based control strategies through the seamless integration of ubiquitous sensing infrastructures, simulation tools, Building Information Modelling (BIM) tools, service oriented architectures and data warehouse technologies. This paper introduces an interoperable Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) platform integrating IT systems at design, construction and operation stages of buildings so that monitoring, analysis and optimization of building energy performance can be achieved. The developed prototype has been demonstrated with EOS Sustainable Energy Solutions GmbH which is Hannover, Germany based R&D company, on a sample building of Technology Center Hannover within the scope of Dynamic System Architecture for Energy Efficient Building Operations (DASSEB) Project.