Researching the technical, social & economic factors impacting the energy performance of Smart Buildings (Built4People Partnership)

Expected Outcome:

Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• Increased evidence of factors such as physiological, behavioural, social, environmental and cultural that influence how different user and demographic groups perceive and use smart, secured, integrated energy efficient building systems, and how it affects the building whole-life cycle and energy savings, as well as occupant satisfaction, health and well-being;
• The design and operation of smart building systems and smart buildings are improved making them more user-friendly and effective.

Scope:

Significant investments have been made in developing hardware and software for smart buildings. There is still limited understanding how smart buildings solutions impact the energy performance of buildings and users’ comfort in practice. Research is required on the technical, social, and economic factors that influence how different groups – defined by their social, educational, age, and financial status – use and interact with smart buildings and systems. The whole-life cycle impacts of smart building have to be better understood, from design and construction to operation, maintenance, end-of-life and circular re-use, to ensure delivery of sustainable and cost-effective smart building solutions.

Proposals are expected to address all of the following:

• Research and quantify how existing and novel smart building solutions meet the needs of different social and economic groups (based on their gender, age, educational and financial status, etc.);
• Identify major barriers and enablers for the use of smart building solutions among different socio-demographic and socio-economic groups, and research how it impacts the energy performance of buildings;

Trimmed here, the full scope, expected outcomes and award criteria are on the official topic page ↗.