A Framework for Intelligent Information System – Reengineering Energy Consumption in Buildings to Reduce Carbon Footprint

Irrespective of the global debate that climate change is totally a natural phenomenon or a result only of anthropogenic activities, it can be said that at least a part of the reason (if not all) for climate change happening around the globe is anthropogenic activities. One such activity is carbon emissions that result as an unwanted side product when energy is produced via burning fossil fuels. These carbon emissions cause greenhouse effect resulting in increased average temperature and global warming. For instance, eleven of the 12 hottest years on record occurred between 1995 and 2006. On the contrary, energy has become like blood of life for the existence and functioning of the built environment. Buildings in Europe alone are responsible for 40% of energy consumption and 36% CO2 emissions. Under the Directive of Energy Performance of Buildings (2002/91/EC), the Member States must apply minimum requirements as regards the energy performance of buildings. The UK has taken lead among many other countries by passing the bill for the Climate Change Act 2008 which legally binds the UK to at least 80% reduction by 2050 and 34% by 2020 which is fast approaching. However, the review of literature and models to date reveals that there is a lack of holistic knowledge-base approaches towards integrating all energy-related aspects in a given building in terms of these issues: energy consumption breakdown amongst various energy-using items of a given building; identification of high energy-using items in the building; maintenance/refitting and refurbishments/retrofitting; fabric and non-fabric; cost-benefit analysis in terms of energy-saving technologies, pay-back time and meeting aforesaid legal carbon cuts targets. Based on identification of knowledge gaps and attempting to bridge them, this paper develops and presents such a holistic knowledge-base framework that forms fundamentals of an intelligent information system and encapsulates all the issues listed above.