SMART ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES AND BUILDING ARCHITECTURE: AN OVERVIEW

The buildings that aren't “connected” are the same they were decades ago and have retained fundamentally the same purpose i.e. to provide shelter, temperature control, and safety at the same efficiency level. Globally the built environments account for significant energy use and equivalent production of carbon dioxide (CO2) and carbon footprint. Growing concerns about safety, comfort, global warming, and climate change are leading to technological evolution, that will make the buildings smart, more comfortable, and nearly zero energy buildings. The building architectures are obviously smarter today than they were a few years ago and will continue to do so as the people become more energy aware and efficiency focused. Smart architectures and smart technologies are effective means to make buildings more comfortable, secure and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and carbon footprint. Smart metering, smart grid, energy storage, and smart energy management system are some of the technologies that find their use in smart architectures along with ubiquitous digital technologies. These evolving technologies being relatively new can indeed make the buildings smart, intelligent, energy efficient and environmentally sustainable which will attract higher rentals and more resale values in the near future. For commercial real estate, the savings can be impressive. A reduction in energy use is equivalent to an increase in building's asset value and net operating income. This paper provides a contemporary look at the potential of smart architectures and evolving smart energy technologies to reduce energy consumption and carbon footprint in built environments. The scope of this paper is limited to the brief overview of these technologies and their applications