Smart Zero-energy Buildings and Communities for Smart Grids

1The Role of Smart Grids in the Building Sector

A smart grid is a dynamically interactive real-time infrastructure concept that encompasses the many visions of the stakeholders of diverse energy systems (El-Hawary 2014). Smart grids are electrical power grids that are more efficient and more resilient, and therefore “smarter”, than existing conventional power grids. The smartness is focused not only on the elimination of blackouts, but also on making the grid greener, more efficient, adaptable to customers’ needs, and therefore, less costly (El-Hawary 2014; Giordano et al. 2013). Smart grids incorporate innovative IT technology that allows for two-way communication between the utility and its customers/users. As a result, the sensing along the transmission lines and the sensing from the customer’s side is what makes the grid “smart”.

Like the Internet, the smart grid consists of controls, computers, automation, new technologies, smart buildings and equipment working together, but in this case these technologies will work with the electrical grid to respond digitally to the quickly changing energy demands of the users. Therefore smart grids create an exceptional opportunity for the support of the development of smart zero-energy buildings and communities, and they offer a step towards the Internet of Things (IoT) for the Energy and Building Industry (Chen et al. 2013; Zhen et al. 2012).

Smart grids open the door to new applications with far-reaching interdisciplinary impacts: ...