Produzione e trasformazione di energia primaria 
Produzione e distribuzione di elettricità e calore 
Tecnologie per i trasporti 
Tecnologie per il residenziale e i servizi 
Tecnologie per l'industria e l'agricoltura Tecnologie per il residenziale e i servizi
Home and Building Automation
Autors: Luigi Martirano, Matteo Manganelli, Nicola Labia
Home automation is an array of technologies and devices based on ICT and IoT aimed at easing the management of home and building services, with energy saving and easy living as the key objectives (e.g.: electrical switchs and chronothermostats for lighting and space heating, anti-intrusion systems controlled via SMS, etc.),
The concept of building automation was born about 100 years ago when an automated air conditioning system was implemented in a Chicago hotel. The 1950’s electronic revolution (i.e., 3rd industrial revolution) drastically changed the control technologies by introducing inexpensive programmable logic controllers (PLC). The core of modern Building Automation and Control System (BACS) is based on solid-state devices and PLC, and is referred to as Home and Building Electronic Systems (HBES). The 2000’s ICT revolution (i.e., 4th industrial revolution) further changed the HBES/BACS technology with the widespread use of communication networks and protocols.
Buildings are currently responsible for 40% of overall energy consumption in the European Union. Therefore, the reduction of the buildings energy use is key to avoid climate changes. Home and building automation (HBA) systems are one of the levers to exploit the untapped potential for energy savings in buildings. The concept of nearly zero energy buildings NZEB is a reference objective for new and retrofitted buildings in the EU. Monitoring the buildings energy performance also appears as an indispensable tool to achieve this objective. Since 2009, EU bodies and directves highlighted how the use of ICT can enable energy efficiency. The EU Directive on Energy Performance of Buildings (2018/844) [2] sets new guidelines for energy efficiency in the real estate sector, placing home automation as a leading enabling technology.
At the national level, the current energy efficiency policy measures for buildings (ecobonus) recognize the specific role for home automation. Also key is the new regulation concerning energy communities for which home automation is the key to optimizing the management of common energy resources. In Europe, BACS are generally used for mechanical and HVAC central systems (e.g., central heat and cold production, etc.), with Standard EN ISO 16484 as the main reference, and HBES are used for electrical systems and local/distributed HVAC (Standard EN 50090).