From bricks to bytes: Verifiable data for decarbonizing the building sector

Abstract

Amidst the pressing need to combat climate change and curb greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the building sector emerges as a pivotal sector, substantially impacting worldwide emissions. Despite efforts to improve energy efficiency and incorporate non-fossil energy sources, the sector still lags in achieving the necessary decarbonization goals. Existing Building Energy Management Systems primarily prioritize economic criteria, overlooking the vital aspect of emissions reduction. Energy Informatics and Information Systems hold the potential to bridge this gap by enabling precise and verifiable GHG emissions accounting, end-to-end real-time tracking, and automated verification within Energy Management Systems (EMS). This paper presents research on designing the advancement of EMSs in the form of a Building Energy Emission Management System (BEEMS) leveraging verifiable emission data for emission-based actions. The central research question revolves around designing BEEMS to facilitate emission-based actions based on verifiable data. Following a multi-step approach, the research methodology encompasses a comprehensive literature review and iterative evaluation of our design principles through a workshop and semi-structured interviews with experts from industry and research. The contributions include a conceptual architecture of a BEEMS and six design principles for future BEEMS development. Ultimately, this research strives to facilitate end-to-end verifiable GHG emissions management in the building sector to enable emission-based energy consumption decisions, contributing to the existing body of knowledge of the Energy Informatics field on BEEMS.