A Preliminary Review of Building Informatics for Sustainable Energy Management

Abstract

Building sector is a major energy consumer that represents a significant area of research in energy sustainability efforts. Building system is essentially a complex system that can be viewed from a number of perspectives, including occupants, thermal conditions, climate, engineering systems, and management practices. In this paper, we have conducted a preliminary review on the research issues, challenges and opportunities in the field of sustainable energy management, from the perspectives of building informatics. Based on literature survey, we have reviewed the status-quo of existing practice and related research challenges in building energy management. We then present the existing building information collection and processing strategy, follow up with a discussion on how informatics is being applied for sustainable energy management. Based on our discussion, we have summarized four essential research areas that are worth investigating for future research, with in-depth discussion on the rationale, main issues and existing efforts in respective area.