Buildings Interaction with Urban Energy Systems: A Research Agenda

The goal towards a fossil free energy system is expressed in amongst others European and national targets, and puts pressure on the application of renewable energy sources combined with energy efficiency. Many cities are even more ambitious than their national targets and want to be among the first to demonstrate that they can become not only smart fossil-free energy cities but sustainable in a wider sense, including water, waste, transportation and more. In the current paper, the research agenda to support such goals through smart city efforts is presented for a few European cases as examples, focusing on the impacts that buildings play in the overall energy system. Here buildings are not only consumers but rather prosumers that are able to produce renewable energy themselves. Buildings moreover offer potential storage capacities that can be utilized in demand shifting, which is necessary to enable increased penetration of renewable energy in the energy grids.