@inproceedings{discovery10063026, journal = {Proceedings of World Sustainable Energy Days}, booktitle = {Proceedings of WSED 2012}, month = {March}, address = {Wels, Austria}, publisher = {WSED}, note = {This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher's terms and conditions.}, title = {Advanced control strategies toward achieving nearly-zero energy consumption in buildings}, series = {WELS (world sustainable energy days)}, year = {2012}, volume = {2012}, editor = {Gerhard Dell and Christiane Egger}, url = {https://www.wsed.at/en/reviews/wsed-2012.html}, author = {Kontes, G and Giannakis, G and Kosmatopoulos, E and Rovas, DV}, abstract = {In this paper the main concept and results of the PEBBLE Project are presented: PEBBLE is an ongoing FP7 Project aiming at the development of advanced ICT tools to support the operation of nearly-zero- and positive energy buildings. In the design and operation of such buildings a pragmatic target is maximization of the actual net energy produced (NEP) by intelligently shaping demand to perform generation-consumption matching. With the belief that maximization of the NEP for Positive-Energy Buildings is attained thru Better ControL decisions (PEBBLE), a control and optimization ICT methodology that combines model-based predictive control and cognitive-based adaptive optimization is presented. There are three essential ingredients to the PEBBLE system: a) thermal simulation models; b) sensors, actuators, and user interfaces; and c), generic control and optimization tools. The potential for energy savings using advanced control strategies is illustrated using simulation-based studies: there are significant benefits in terms of energy-performance of using advanced control strategies, compared to traditional rule-based ones. Ongoing work about demonstration and evaluation of the PEBBLE system in three real world buildings is described.} }