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The application of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) is a key element to increase the energy efficiency of buildings and districts. With ICTs it is possible to monitor the entire energy transfer between producer and consumer, to profile end users and to promote their awareness with regards to their energy consumption. For instance, advanced visualization technologies, such as Augmented Reality, can provide a real-time feedback to users about their energy use behaviors. Moreover, statistical analyses on population energy profiles will allow energy providers to better schedule the energy distribution at different timings, to increase demand response. Finally, environmental conditions and user feedback data will have a direct role to lead the autonomous control of energy use at the district, building, or even at the apartment level. Unfortunately, to build a coherent information system is often more difficult than to collect and analyze data. Indeed, the main components of such infrastructure are usually difficult to integrate together, because they can be realized with heterogeneous technologies. Furthermore, data format is often specific to each platform and often it is not portable. Moreover, data can be stored using different technologies and it can be maintained in different locations. In this scenario, the lack of an unifying paradigm is a major issue and enabling the interoperability between heterogeneous technologies is the key challenge. The proposed District Information Model Cloud (DIMCloud) is a distributed infrastructure, which targets to make a cloud digital archive for energy management in the district. The whole DIMCloud exploits a service-oriented middleware approach to enable the interoperability across heterogeneous hardware and software technologies. It aims to collect environmental information coming from pervasive and heterogeneous systems deployed in buildings and energy distribution networks in the district. Internet-of-things devices play a key role in this framework, enabling the collection of fine-grained environmental information. To be effective in the specific application, a number of requirements must be accounted for, such as network reliability and self-configuration, wireless transmission range, band regulations compliancy and low energy consumption. In addition, DIMCloud shares georeferenced structural characteristics and parameters about both buildings (BIM) and energy distribution networks providing also their virtual models. It offers a web query interface, where data of a specific district, building or device can be retrieved, and experimental low-energy sensor networks. Subsequently, data is provided encoded in JSON, a human-readable semistructured data format. Finally, this information can be accessed and exploited to: i) profile the energy consumption from the district point of view down to the single building; ii) design more efficient control policies; iii) increase energy user awareness.

In recent years the European Commission enhanced strategies to promote ICTs for energy efficiency in buildings and cities. Within the Smart City context, energy-related information coming from different data-sources, either hardware or software needs to be integrated into a common smart digital archive for the city. We propose DIMMER, a distributed software infrastructure for district information modelling and energy management. It correlates energy-related information from different data-sources with user behaviour patterns and feedbacks. Hence, different actors playing in this scenario can access relevant information for providing new services and developing more efficient policies to enhance energy optimization in cities. This will provide support for strategic planning of the city and will foster the competition in the marketplace.

Innovative technologies such as ICTs (Information and Communications Technologies) are recognized as being a key player against climate change and the use of sensors and actuators can efficiently control the whole energy chain in the Smart Thermal Grids at district level. On the other side, advances on 3D modelling, visualization and interaction technologies enable user profiling and represent part of the holistic approach which aims at integrating renewable energy solutions in the existing building stock. To unlock the potentiality of these technologies, the case study selected for this research focuses on interoperability between Building Information Models (BIM), GIS (Geographic Information System) models and Energy Analysis Models (EAM) for designing Renewable Energy Strategies (RES) among the demonstrator. The objectives aim at making a whole series of data concerning the energy efficiency and reduction at district level usable for various stakeholders, by creating a District Information Model (DIM). The described system also integrates BIM and district level 3D models with real-time data from sensors to analyse and correlate buildings utilization and provide real-time energy-related behaviours. An important role is played by the energy simulation through the EAM for matching measured and simulated data and to assess the energy performance of buildings starting from a BIM model or shared data. With this purpose interoperability tests are carried out between the BIM models and quasi-steady energy analysis tools in order to optimize the calculation of the energy demand according to the Italian technical specification UNI TS 11300. Information about the roofs slope and their orientation from the GIS model are used to predict the use of renewable energy – solar thermal and PV – within the selected buildings (both public and private) of the demonstrator in Turin, Italy. The expected results are a consistent reduction in both energy consumption and CO 2 emissions by enabling a more efficient energy distribution policies, according to the real characteristics of district buildings as well as a more efficient utilization and maintenance of the energy distribution network, based on social behaviour and users attitudes and demand. In the future the project will allow open access with personal devices and A/R visualization of energy-related information to client applications for energy and cost-analysis, tariff planning and evaluation, failure identification and maintenance, energy information sharing in order to increase the user's awareness in the field of energy consumption.