Demand scheduling and predictive control opportunities for local energy production arbitrage: Smart buildings applications as a component of smart cities

The energy consumed by buildings is the most important component of the total energy consumption in the developed countries, but also worldwide. There are several important international programs which aim at developing innovative ways for reducing the consumption of energy related with buildings. Producing and consuming locally the energy is the most effective way of harnessing the maximum benefit from it, but due to the limited possibility to generate clean energy locally, the management of the local energy production should be optimized up to the maximum. Having smart control systems and strategies for the energy consumers will not only reduce the overall cost of energy, but will also help at making money out of the local production in the future, if the on premises energy production is tied with a smart electrical grid.