CE-BEMS: A cloud-enabled building energy management system

Abstract

Energy consumption in smart buildings is monitored and controlled using Building Energy Management Systems (BEMS). A BEMS provides a set of methods to monitor and control a building's energy needs while maintaining a good quality of living in all of the building's spaces. Energy efficiency and costs savings in smart buildings significantly depend on the monitoring and control methods used in the installed BEMS. This paper proposes a Cloud-Enabled BEMS (CE-BEMS) for Smart Buildings. This system can utilize cloud computing to provide enhanced management mechanisms and features for energy savings in smart buildings. This system is connected to the cloud to have access to a number of advanced cloud-based services to enhance energy management in smart buildings. In this paper, we discuss the current limitations of BEMS, the conceptual design of the proposed system, and the advantages, opportunities, and challenges of using the system.