Dear Colleagues,

Building management systems (BMSs) are responsible for the regulation and control of facility systems. The advent of BMSs was a massive leap forward in automating the equipment used to control facilities. BMSs allow for a variety of hardware, primarily heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems, to automate their responses to internal environmental conditions and timing. However, in a traditional BMS, the data collected about various systems is siloed and difficult to integrate, making it a challenge to get a full picture of the efficiency of the building operations in real-time conditions. Furthermore, the lack of an analytics component means the job of data analysis falls to humans; these systems were designed to gather data only for the purposes of automating operations, and not for real-time performance optimization.

Internet of Things (IoT) for future buildings, on the other hand, makes data collection and analysis simple and cost-effective, and most systems are built for the sole purpose of improving energy and comfort performance. These tools enable the remote monitoring of data, bring data from disparate sources together, and catalog and analyze the data for actionable insights. Additionally, optimization and diagnostic functions using advanced machine learning (ML) algorithms become possible with these technologies. Furthermore, thanks to advanced forecasting tools like application programming interface (API) online weather forecast, IoT makes it possible to optimally integrate green energy sources in sustainable buildings, as in building-integrating photovoltaics (BIPVs). 

This Special Issue seeks to highlight valuable contributions on the topic. We invite articles addressing the following:

1. IoT technological hardware and software solutions for BMSs.
2. Implementation of advanced algorithms and ML in the context of BMSs.
3. Communication protocols and tools between different IoT devices for BMSs.
4. Database management and IT solutions in the framework of IoT projects for BMSs.
5. Optimal power management in BIPVT.
6. Using advanced digital tools and BIM for novel building sustainability analysis.

Dr. Qian Wang
Dr. Mustapha Habib
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• BMS
• IoT
• HVAC
• ML
• sustainability
• BIM