Integration of AI with Building Energy Management Systems for Low-Carbon Urban Development
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54691/y46pr676Keywords:
Artificial Intelligence; Low-Carbon Development; Smart Buildings; Energy Efficiency; Carbon Reduction; Urban Sustainability.Abstract
This paper investigates the application of Artificial Intelligence and Building Energy Management Systems (AI-BEMS) to advance low-carbon urban development goals. An extensive 18-month experimental campaign conducted on 27 different case studies has addressed energy, CO2 savings, economic feasibility and operational reliability. The results indicate that the AI-BEMS system successfully realize energy usages reductions, ranging from averaged 28.3% for all types of buildings, to maximum reduction with 31.3% for the residential buildings. Reductions in carbon emissions averaged 32.1%, institutional building had the highest at 34.8%. The economic analysis showed promising results with a mean payback period of 3.3 years and 5 year ROI of 53%. System reliability statistics showed availability and the thermal comfort compliance were at 98.2% and 93.8%, respectively. The percentage of correct AI predictions increased from 78.0% to 95.0% across the operational time frame, indicating the system adapted and learnt. The results of statistical analysis indicated a significant enhancement in all items (p < 0.001). The results indicate that AI-BEMS integration is an established technology solution to attain the urban sustainable targets without forsaking economic feasibility and strong operational performance.
Downloads
References
[1] “G20 Global Smart Cities Alliance - Home.” Accessed: Aug. 20, 2025. [Online]. Available: https://www.globalsmartcitiesalliance.org/home
[2] D. M. T. E. Ali, V. Motuzienė, and R. Džiugaitė-Tumėnienė, “AI-Driven Innovations in Building Energy Management Systems: A Review of Potential Applications and Energy Savings,” Energies 2024, Vol. 17, Page 4277, vol. 17, no. 17, p. 4277, Aug. 2024, doi: 10.3390/EN17174277.
[3] T. Ahmad et al., “Energetics Systems and artificial intelligence: Applications of industry 4.0,” Energy Reports, vol. 8, pp. 334–361, Nov. 2022, doi: 10.1016/J.EGYR.2021.11.256.
[4] H. Jain, “Leveraging geo-computational innovations for sustainable disaster management to enhance flood resilience,” Discover Geoscience, vol. 2, no. 1, Jul. 2024, doi: 10.1007/S44288-024-00042-0.
[5] M. Shobanke, M. Bhatt, and E. Shittu, “Advancements and future outlook of Artificial Intelligence in energy and climate change modeling,” Advances in Applied Energy, vol. 17, p. 100211, Mar. 2025, doi: 10.1016/J.ADAPEN.2025.100211.
[6] M. M. Sesana, G. Salvalai, N. Della Valle, G. Melica, and P. Bertoldi, “Towards harmonising energy performance certificate indicators in Europe,” Journal of Building Engineering, vol. 95, p. 110323, Oct. 2024, doi: 10.1016/J.JOBE.2024.110323.
[7] A. Kuzior, M. Sira, and P. Brozek, “USING BLOCKCHAIN AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN ENERGY MANAGEMENT AS A TOOL TO ACHIEVE ENERGY EFFICIENCY,” Virtual Economics, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 69–90, 2022, doi: 10.34021/VE.2022.05.03(4).
[8] A. Hanafi, M. Moawed, and O. Abdellatif, “Advancing Sustainable Energy Management: A Comprehensive Review of Artificial Intelligence Techniques in Building,” Engineering Research Journal (Shoubra), vol. 53, no. 2, pp. 26–46, Apr. 2024, doi: 10.21608/ERJSH.2023.226854.1196.
[9] E. Khaoula, B. Amine, and B. Mostafa, “Machine Learning and the Internet Of Things for Smart Buildings: A state of the art survey,” 2022 2nd International Conference on Innovative Research in Applied Science, Engineering and Technology, IRASET 2022, 2022, doi: 10.1109/IRASET52964.2022.9738256.
[10] M. M. A. L. N. Maheepala, H. Li, D. Robert, L. Meegahapola, and S. Wang, “Towards energy flexible commercial buildings: Machine learning approaches, implementation aspects, and future research directions,” Energy Build, vol. 346, p. 116170, Nov. 2025, doi: 10.1016/J.ENBUILD.2025.116170.
[11] J. Liu and J. Chen, “Applications and Trends of Machine Learning in Building Energy Optimization: A Bibliometric Analysis,” Buildings 2025, Vol. 15, Page 994, vol. 15, no. 7, p. 994, Mar. 2025, doi: 10.3390/BUILDINGS15070994.
[12] D. Xia, Z. Wu, Y. Zou, R. Chen, and S. Lou, “Developing a bottom-up approach to assess energy challenges in urban residential buildings of China,” Frontiers of Architectural Research, Apr. 2025, doi: 10.1016/J.FOAR.2025.03.006.
[13] A. S. Cespedes-Cubides and M. Jradi, “A review of building digital twins to improve energy efficiency in the building operational stage,” Energy Informatics, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 1–31, Dec. 2024, doi: 10.1186/S42162-024-00313-7/FIGURES/7.
[14] A. A. Alnaser, M. Maxi, and H. Elmousalami, “AI-Powered Digital Twins and Internet of Things for Smart Cities and Sustainable Building Environment,” Applied Sciences 2024, Vol. 14, Page 12056, vol. 14, no. 24, p. 12056, Dec. 2024, doi: 10.3390/APP142412056.
[15] X. Zhu, D. Li, S. Zhou, S. Zhu, and L. Yu, “Evaluating coupling coordination between urban smart performance and low-carbon level in China’s pilot cities with mixed methods,” Scientific Reports 2024 14:1, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 1–19, Sep. 2024, doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-68417-4.
[16] C. S. Meena, A. Kumar, V. P. Singh, and A. Ghosh, “Sustainable Technologies for Energy Efficient Buildings,” Sustainable Technologies for Energy Efficient Buildings, pp. 1–407, Jan. 2024, doi: 10.1201/9781003496656.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Frontiers in Sustainable Development

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.






