An Intelligent System for Energy Efficiency in a Complex of Buildings

Energy efficiency has nowadays become one of the most challenging task for both academic and commercial organizations, and this has boosted research on novel fields, such as Ambient Intelligence. In this paper we address the issue of timely and ubiquitous monitoring of building complexes in order to optimize their energy consumption, and present an intelligent system addressed to the typical end user, i.e. the administrator, or responsible operator, of the complex. A three-level architecture has been designed for detecting the presence of the building inhabitants user and understanding their preferences with respect to the environmental conditions in order to optimize the overall energy efficiency of the buildings. Wireless Sensor and Actuator Networks (WSAN) are used to remotely monitor and control the environment according to the decisions made by a centralized reasoner. A case study derived from an actual implementation of the system regarding the management of a university building is also described.