“Energymon”: Development of wireless sensor network based Decision Support System to monitor building energy performance

This paper presents a new technology to monitor and improve building energy performance according to the 2002/91/EC directive. The system includes a ZigBee based wireless sensor system, which is installed in the building to measure temperature, heat flow, boiler performance, gas and electricity consumption. The obtained data is processed by a Decision Support System, which (1) calculates the current energy efficiency, (2) generates reconstruction plans and budget, and (3) calculates return of investment. The optimal (i.e. highest return of investment) reconstruction plan is selected and recommended to the user (decision maker). The optimization of reconstruction strategies (options among reconstruction plans) can be determined by setting the available budgets and other available resources such as renewable energies. The performance of the system was tested on a 3000 m² school building complex, including of 150-year-old and 10-year-old structures.