The Semantic Web is an advance data storage and relationship description framework. Compared with its predecessor, the World Wide Web, the data stored in Semantic Web can not only be understood by human but also be understood and processed by computers. BrickSchema is a Semantic Web-based technology for mapping the relationships of building data. This schema describes the relationships between spaces, people and equipment in a way that can be easily understood by computers. This increased digitisation and intelligence in building energy analysis and control, ultimately increasing the energy efficiency of building operations. Since the introduction of BrickSchema by the HVAC community in 2015, many companies involved in smart buildings have joined in the development and application of the technology.

As the cost of solar cells continually decrease, more and more buildings are applying solar energy as a supplemented source of electricity in addition to the grid to reduce energy costs. The excess electricity can also be sold to the grid, which earns profits for building owners. However, due to a lack of advanced solar management technology, a large amount of solar power capacity is wasted, resulting in building not achieving the desired energy saving target. To address this issue, the joint laboratory has invested in R&D of solar energy storage systems and demand-side response, thus further unlock the potential of building integrated solar energy technologies for energy.

The Building Energy Management System is an intelligent management platform based on building automation control system. By collecting, analysing and visualising the various energy consumption and operating parameters of the building, the system helps building managers to understand the operating conditions of the building, on the other hand to issue reasonable commands using optimised control algorithms and realise these actions through the building control system, thus increase indoor environment quality and energy efficiency.

Demand-side response is a measurement that consumers temporarily change their habitual patterns of electricity consumption by reducing or delaying the consumption at certain times of the day to ensure the stability of the grid system when the electricity tariffs increase or the system reliability is threatened. In this process, the grid or government will often incentivise consumers to take demand response measures through subsidies or low tariffs. Current methods of regulating demand include energy efficiency improvements, load curtailments, peak load shifting and real-time grid matching, etc.