Challenges and opportunities of Internet-of-Things in occupant-centric building operations: towards a life cycle assessment framework

The urgency to address the environmental impacts of the building sector, particularly emissions allocated to building operation, necessitates immediate, informed action. Occupant behaviour is a known driver of building operational emissions. Use of Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices holds great potential in mitigating and distributing occupancy-driven energy demand, ultimately aiming for net-zero emissions. However, a full accounting of the environmental impacts and advantages is still lacking. As the adoption of IoT scales up, what will be the environmental impact of the tools used, from sensor life cycle to data storage? This study reviews the interdisciplinary literature on life cycle assessment (LCA) of IoT in buildings, encompassing emissions from pre-deployment to end-of-life, as well as savings from reduced building operational emissions. This opens a vital discourse on the opportunities and challenges of building-related IoT.

10.1016/j.cosust.2023.101383

1877-3435

Vakalis, Donna

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Hellwig, Runa T.

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Schweiker, Marcel

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Gauthier, Stephanie

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1 December 2023

Vakalis, Donna

6da20b8e-8959-44bb-be34-e44718a161d9

Hellwig, Runa T.

0d62ff4f-7d0d-49e2-b2aa-25ca41cff88f

Schweiker, Marcel

cc996bd1-5164-450d-9968-b4fcd2493f5f

Gauthier, Stephanie

4e7702f7-e1a9-4732-8430-fabbed0f56ed

Vakalis, Donna, Hellwig, Runa T., Schweiker, Marcel and Gauthier, Stephanie (2023) Challenges and opportunities of Internet-of-Things in occupant-centric building operations: towards a life cycle assessment framework. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 65, [101383]. (doi:10.1016/j.cosust.2023.101383).

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Accepted/In Press date: 30 October 2023

e-pub ahead of print date: 1 December 2023

Published date: 1 December 2023

Additional Information: Funding Information: Donna Vakalis was funded in part by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (CMHC-NSERC PDF award number PDF-558150-2021 ). Runa T. Hellwig was supported by the Obelske Familiefond , Denmark. Marcel Schweiker was supported by a research grant ( 21055 ) by VILLUM FONDEN . Stephanie Gauthier would like to thank the support of the Centre of Excellence in Low Carbon Comfort (LCC) and of the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council under Grant EP/T023074/1 . Publisher Copyright: © 2023 Elsevier B.V.