On the Energy Efficiency in the Next Generation of Smart Buildings-Supporting Technologies and Techniques

Energy efficiency is one of the most relevant issues that the scientific community, and society in general, must face in the next years. Furthermore, higher energy efficiencies will contribute to worldwide sustainability. Buildings are responsible for 40% of the overall consumed energy. Smart Grids and Smart Buildings are playing an essential role in the definition of the next generation of sustainable Smart Cities. The main goal is reducing the impact of energy consumption on the environment as much as possible. This paper focuses on information communication technologies (ICTs) and techniques, their key characteristics and contribution to obtain higher energy efficiencies in smart buildings. Given that electrical energy is the most used, the investigation mainly centres on this energy. This paper also pays attention to green energies and energy harvesting due to their contribution to energy efficiency by providing additional clean energy. The main contribution of this investigation is pointing out the most relevant existing and emerging ICT technologies and techniques which can be used to optimize the energy efficiency of Smart Buildings. The research puts special attention on available, novel and emerging sensors, communication technologies and standards, intelligence techniques and algorithms, green energies and energy harvesting. All of them enable high-performance intelligent systems to optimize energy consumption and occupants' comfort. Furthermore, it remarks on the most suitable technologies and techniques, their main features and their applications in Smart Buildings.