Towards energy efficient buildings: A perspective study

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are expected to have a significant impact on improving energy efficiency in buildings. Currently there is limited understanding of the potential of ICT to reduce energy consumption in buildings. In order to put ICT at the core of the energy efficiency effort and to enable reaching their full potential, it is necessary to foster research and development (R&D) into novel ICT-based solutions and strengthen their take-up - so that the energy demand of buildings can be further reduced by adding intelligence to components, equipment and services. In this paper, ICT-based demand-driven innovation and optimised solutions to energy efficiency in buildings are investigated which cover the role of ICT and its priorities for energy efficiency, the state-of-the-art of energy efficiency in buildings, vision and roadmaps for energy efficiency in buildings and key areas where there is much potential to improve energy efficiency in buildings through the use of ICT.