An Integrated Building Energy Management System

Environmental concerns and the need to reduce the dependency on imported fossil fuels have fostered several policy and economic mechanisms to incentivize the deployment of renewable generation plants, namely based on wind and photovoltaics, including microgeneration at the residential level. However, these sources are inherently intermittent, and consequently actions should be taken to mitigate the potential undesirable impacts that a large share of renewable generation may have on supply reliability and power quality. Moreover, the promotion of electric mobility requires the consideration of a new significant load, and electric vehicles would be expected to impose further challenges on power systems, in both grid-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-grid modes. Additionally, storage systems suitable for residential use are being announced. Therefore, a paradigm change is emerging in power systems involving a shift from a supply-follows-demand to a load-follows-supply strategy, making the most of the evolution toward smart grids.