Context-aware energy efficiency in smart buildings

Abstract

When talking about energy efficiency at global scale, buildings are the cornerstone in terms of power consumption and CO2 emissions. New communication paradigms, such as Internet of Things, can improve the way sensors and actuators are accessed in smart buildings. Following this approach, we present an energy efficiency subsystem integrated with a building automation solution that makes the most of the energy consumed, considering user preferences, environmental conditions, and presence/identity of occupants. Through a three-stage approach based on behavior-centred mechanisms, the system is able to propose concrete settings on building devices to cope with energy and user comfort restrictions. The proposal has been implemented and deployed on a smart building. A set of tests validates the system when users are correctly located and identified at comfort service points, and first experimental stages already reflect energy saves in heating and cooling about 20%. © Springer International Publishing 2013.