Digital Habitat: Green, Healthy, Sustainable
Authors: Livina Valerie 
Published: March 2022

&lt;p&gt;In modern urban environment, with increasing penetration of sensor technologies, building management systems (BMS) allow to develop and maintain sustainable healthy indoor microclimate with reduced indirect carbon emissions (those produced by energy generators running on fossil fuels). This complex environment requires optimisation of the use of the available energy infrastructure, apply data science methods to analyse sensor data flows, automate data processing using machine learning and artificial intelligence solutions, and improve living conditions and life quality.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Both outdoor and indoor environments have sensor networks, which are often managed separately, and there is a challenge of integrating their observations. For example, if the outdoor air quality is poor, no indoor ventilation can improve the air indoors. If the networks communicate, the indoor air quality will be optimized with minimal loss of energy, and thus with reduced carbon emissions (carbon savings).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Moreover, there is a growing use of demand-side-response innovations, which allow energy balancing using optimisation and unconventional storage solutions. For example, with increasing use of electric vehicles, vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technologies will allow using their energy while parked, providing energy supply for local usage. Furthermore, the contracts of long-term supply of energy can be arrange in such a way that a building would be powered with allocated energy drawn from renewable generators. The renewable energy supply is provided using power purchase agreement (PPA). By combining and optimizing these solutions, it is possible to achieve greener and more sustainable urban habitat, which will minimize and eventually reduce indirect carbon emissions in built environment [1-9].&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The challenges of urban transformations caused by the Covid19 pandemic led to several legislations requiring increasing ventilation of public buildings. This caused increased energy consumption, which in many EU countries remain based on fossil fuels - ranging from natural gas (in Western Europe) to brown coal (in Eastern Europe). A positive example is France, where most of energy is produced by nuclear plants. There is a debate whether nuclear energy can be classed as renewable: although it does not produce carbon emissions by burning fuel, it does have large embodied carbon emissions due to the cement plant construction, which generate direct carbon emissions.&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;We present a framework that optimises ventilation and behaviours for improved indoor air quality and pollution-free environment with forecast of energy demand for renewable energy trading. The framework balances energy resources and living conditions by use of urban digitalisation and automation, homogenisation and integration of sensor data, optimises energy supply with V2G technologies, improves air quality and reduces pollutions: noise, emissions, radioactivity and demonstrate a successful case study with an industrial partner (UK).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;References: &lt;/strong&gt;[1] Mesa et al, JCEM, in press; [2] Mesa et al, IJMQE, 2021; [3] Mesa et al, ERE, 2020; [4] Livina et al, JET, 2020; [5] Mesa et al, EE, 2020; [6]&amp;#160; Lau et al, EPSR, 2016; [7] Lau et al, IJEE, 2015; [8] Lau et al, AE, 2015; [9] Lau et al, ECM, 2014.&lt;/p&gt;