ABSTRACT
Information and Communication Technologies
(ICT) have an important role to play in reducing
the energy intensity and increasing the energy effi-
ciency of the European Union (EU) economy to
mitigate the climate change globally. Recent studies
found that ICT will not only improve energy effi-
ciency and help combat climate change, they will
also stimulate the development of a large leading-
edge market for ICT enabled energy-efficiency
technologies that will foster the competitiveness of
European industry and create new business oppor-
tunities (Heras and Zarli, 2008). Statistical data has
indicated that buildings account for approximately
40% of energy end-use in the EU, of which more
than 50% is electrical power. As ICT are today
pervasive to all industrial and business domains,
they are expected to generate deep impacts on the
energy efficiency of buildings of tomorrow. Here
the concept of “buildings” is to be understood in
a broad sense including houses, residential build-
ings, office buildings, large infrastructures (e.g.
