Integrated smart indoor – outdoor web based energy management system for university campuses

University campuses can be considered as small towns due to their size, number of users and mixed and complex activities, including numerous actions usually met in urban environments. In the framework of Camp IT project, existing Information & Communication Technology (ICT) is exploited in order to create a micro-grid by integrating sensors, actuators, control algorithms etc, aiming at minimizing energy consumption of buildings and activities within Campuses. The single building is considered part of a “district” approach, where real time interaction of indoor and outdoor spaces is monitored and controlled. The overall aim of the project is to contribute to a future smart grid community by the deploying and testing of a decision support tool and optimization method for a web based energy management system in real time conditions, taking into account indoor / outdoor environmental parameters and user preferences. The aim of the present paper is to analyze the methodology that has been followed, including techniques of building modelling incorporating outdoor spaces, the use of neural networks for the prediction of environmental parameters and energy load as well as the development of control algorithms, in order to create new frontiers for research and development in energy management of university campuses.