Cloud computing platform for sustainability management

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Today, 75% of the total energy consumption worldwide is in buildings during the operational hours for heating, cooling and lighting purposes. The types of equipment and systems used for these purposes emit GHG (Green House Gases) which contributes to 80% of the total GHG emission globally. A building is an intricate system of other systems, such as electricity, water, heating, security, communications, and people. In order to have a holistic view of a building and better plan for sustainable actions, these systems' generated data can be collected and analysed so that new approaches to optimize a building's resources consumption can be created. The main objective of this project is to create a software platform to manage and improve buildings' resources consumption while exploring and advancing cloud computing technologies. There is a great synergy between the high-performance and availability requirements of the above mentioned building's systems and cloud computing features. This project will explore this synergy through the creation of an extensible cloud-based platform for sustainability management. Results from this project will directly benefit Powersmiths. This proposal is of value in addressing sustainability management with a flexible and scalable software engineering approach that can be used in the context of smart buildings and smart communities. This would enable a more rational use of resources, faster response to meaningful situations, and, ultimately, creating a more sustainable world. It is also expected that this project contributes to a better understanding of the involved research areas which can indirectly benefit other domains of cloud based applications. The drive to deep building retrofit where government agencies are directed to reduce energy consumption by as much as 50% as a lead in to net zero buildings also increases demand for similar platforms to support these endeavors. Additionally, the HQP involved in this project will gain valuable experience in the cloud based technologies and real world knowledge and experience in smart environments.