Increasing energy efficiency in Smart Building through Internet of Things retrofitting intervention

Abstract

Buildings are responsible for 40% of energy consumption in Europe, and 75% of them are energy inefficient. In this context, the opportunities enabled by improved management and conservation of energy in buildings are huge. There is a clear need to accelerate and finance building renovation investments and leverage smart, energy-efficient technologies if the EU wants to reach climate neutrality by 2050. IoT components enable new possibilities for improving efficiency in Smart Buildings, both in commercial and residential spaces. However, the literature misses some contributions aimed at evaluating the investment in IoT technologies used for improving the energy efficiency of a building used for different purposes. Thus, the objective of the present study is to provide an assessment of the main costs and benefits stemming from IoT technologies installation through retrofitting intervention and evaluate the sustainability of the investment. Data to feed the model were retrieved from academic literature and secondary sources. The results show that the investment can be recovered in the medium-short term. In particular, buildings with high consumption rates are the ones that benefit the most from this solution. The present study contributes to the academic literature by providing a model that considers a mixed building and multiple technologies at the same time. It also provides useful insights to whoever is interested in the application of IoT technologies to make a building smart, enabling the comprehension of necessary investment and economic returns.