The role of energy in buildings in smart cities

VTT, The Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd (www.vtt research.com) is a multidisciplinary application-oriented research organization. VTT carries out research and innovations that support the development of smart cities in many different ways. The focus of this paper is to explore the role of energy in buildings in the smart city. Because 40% of the primary energy consumption is due to the use and operation of buildings, buildings offer the greatest potential for the reduction of energy consumption and associated emissions. This paper presents some aspects of selected cases from recent research projects carried out by VTT on different national, EU, and International levels, including customer projects. These projects fall under the general topic of smart city concepts of intelligent buildings/urban spaces and distributed energy systems. This paper indicates the importance of energy efficiency, renewable energy technologies, and energy management of buildings/districts, including ICT utilization and business initiatives, in achieving a sustainable smart city.