Challenges and opportunities in European smart buildings energy management: A critical review

Abstract

The substantial stock of European buildings, accounting for more than 40% of energy consumption, has prompted member states to establish a renovation standard with stringent performance criteria. As advancing into the era of digital transformation, the concept of smart buildings emerges as a solution to create sustainable, efficient, resilient, active, and comfortable living and working spaces. This is achieved through intelligent resource use optimization, including the smart management of energy production, storage and distribution systems. Smart buildings operate by harnessing monitoring data and leveraging artificial intelligence algorithms and big data techniques. The integration of monitoring data with contextual information, such as building information modelling, physics, or simulation models, enhances the intelligent management of resources. Moreover, the incorporation of metrics like the smart readiness indicator promotes the adoption of smart buildings. This study delves into the significance of these techniques, expanding on existing research in the field of smart buildings. It integrates concepts of data enrichment, smartness, and user-centric approaches. Key findings provide insights into future opportunities within the sector, emphasizing the need for user awareness strategies, the development of new smart algorithms, and services that incorporate contextual data and the smart readiness indicator. The study also advocates for the widespread adoption of building digital twins.