Intelligent Buildings
efficient and intelligent buildings are the backbone of a sustainable energy system
The energy-intensive and inefficient building sector consumes about 40% of the European Union’s final energy and emits 36% of CO2 emissions [1]. Thus, efficient buildings are crucial to achieve climate targets.
We need to transform buildings into intelligent entities that can seamlessly interact with other parts of the energy system, thereby increasing the flexibility of the overall system. This requires systematically embedding Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, which enable novel energy services to analyze and optimize the system in real time.
DiLT is working towards this goal with national and international partners from academia and industry.
Property management
Manage and monitor your properties and evaluate their performance
Intelligent data management provides the foundation for efficient building operation management, including the application of innovative operating strategies (energy services) and compliance with relevant legal and normative requirements.
DiLT integrates different data sources in a single platform.
AI based energy services
Apply artifical intelligence to reduce energy consumption and energy costs of your buildings
AI-based energy services such as Model Predictive Control (MPC), Demand Side Management, or energy forecasting are crucial for the reliable operation of energy systems with a high share of renewable energies [2]. Field studies in buildings applying MPC have shown to reduce energy consumption up to 28% [3]. Automatic fault detection and diagnosis can significantly reduce energy consumption (15-30% in commercial buildings) and improve the quality of the indoor climate [4].
DiLT combines IoT with AI-based energy services to optimise the operation of buildings.
People at the core
Improve user comfort, well-being and health
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, many people spent around 90% of their time indoors. The interior quality in buildings (temperature, air quality, lighting, acoustics, etc.) thus has a significant impact on health and well-being [5] and, in the worst case, can cause severe respiratory diseases [6] and reduced concentration and productivity [7]. People’s behavior, activities, and needs are at the heart of intelligent energy and building comfort management [8].
DiLT believes in a multi-object-oriented optimization (maximum efficiency, maximum comfort), which requires the application of AI-based methods [9] as well as new comfort paradigms such as Personal Comfort Models. A building must meet actual user needs.
Legacy upgrade
Add „smartness“ to existing buildings and be prepared
The energy performance of building directives (EPBD 2010/31/EU) requires non-residential buildings with an effective rated output for heating systems/HVAC systems of >290 kW to be equipped with building automation and control systems by 2025 [10]. The current proposal (COM/2021/ 802) for updating the EPBD goes even further and demands to lower the threshold to 70 kW by 2029. Besides this, the newly proposed building standard „zero-emission building“ demands buildings which undergo a major renovation to be equipped with measuring and control devices for the monitoring and regulation of indoor air quality. [11]
DiLT works on solutions to upgrade the intelligence of legacy equipment. The aim is to connect non-intrusive and easy-to-use technology; for example, sensors (temperature, thermostats, etc.), communicating via LoRaWAN with the data platform.