Intelligent Use of Buildings´Energy Information

A collaborative project co-funded by the European Commission

It is a well established fact that buildings are one of the major contributors to energy use and CO2 emissions. The energy used in buildings accounts for 40% of the total energy use in Europe. While some breakthrougs are expected in new buildings, the pace of these improvements is too slow considering the EU’S ambitious goal to improve energy efficiency by 20% before 2020.

With over 80% of the European buildings standing in 2020 being already built, the main aim of the IntUBE project is to develop and make use of information and communications technologies to improve the energy efficiency of these existing buildings in compliance with the EU’s aims of improving energy efficiency.

IntUBE will develop tools for measuring and analysing building energy profiles based on user comfort needs. These will offer efficient solutions for better use and management of energy use within buildings over their lifecycles. Intelligent Building Management Systems will be developed to enable real-time monitoring of energy use and optimisation. Neighbourhood Management Systems will be developed to support efficient energy distribution across groups of buildings. These will support timely and optimal energy transfers from building to building based on user needs and requirements. New Business Models to make best use of the developed Management Systems will be created. The results of IntUBE are expected to enhance not only the comfort levels of buildings users, but also reduce overall energy costs through better energy efficiency. These results will be demonstrated in at least three pilot cases: social housing in Spain, office buildings in Finland and a third case defined during the project.

The IntUBE consortium spans key research partners from Northern to Southern Europe including SMEs committed to exploiting the results of the project.