Integration of centralized energy monitoring specifications into the planning process of a new urban development area: a step towards smart cities

New urban development areas are expected to meet highest ecological standards. Beside the construction phase, it is the daily life in neighbourhoods that impacts their carbon footprint. Energy monitoring is a powerful tool for energy analytics, benchmarking, improvements and even real-time energy management on neighbourhood scale. Unfortunately, the standard planning processes on neighbourhood scale do not facilitate seamless monitoring. This paper describes the fundamentals of centralized monitoring on neighbourhood scale, shows the limits of available real-world examples and introduces a current project aiming at tackling some of the lessons learned from previous projects, focusing on the specifications and their integration into the planning process of new urban development areas.