%S WELS (world sustainable energy days) %V 2012 %B Proceedings of WSED 2012 %T Advanced control strategies toward achieving nearly-zero energy consumption in buildings %D 2012 %C Wels, Austria %X 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. %L discovery10063026 %E Gerhard Dell %E Christiane Egger %I WSED %O This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. %J Proceedings of World Sustainable Energy Days %A G Kontes %A G Giannakis %A E Kosmatopoulos %A DV Rovas