In the EU’s revised Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), a smart readiness indicator (SRI) was introduced as an energy efficiency activity to promote smart ready technologies (SRT) in the building sector. The proposed methodology is based on the evaluation of building services and how they contribute on SRT. The purpose of this paper is to explore the applicability of the SRI to cold climate countries in Northern Europe. The Northern European countries are an interesting test environment for the indicator because of their advanced information and communication technology and high building energy consumption profiles. The findings imply that regardless of the SRI’s conceptualization as a system oriented (smart grid) approach, in its current form, it was not able to recognize the specific features of cold climate buildings, specifically those employing advanced district heating (DH) systems. Another, more practical, implication of the study was that due to the subjective nature of the proposed process for selecting SRI relevant building services, the applicability of SRI as a fair rating system across the EU member states is problematic.

The construction industry is embracing advanced digital technologies, such as the Internet of Things and automation systems, to enhance energy management and occupant comfort in smart buildings. Recognizing the need to assess the readiness of buildings to support energy-efficient and adaptive functionalities, the European Commission introduced the smart readiness indicator (SRI) in 2018. While the SRI provides a standardized framework, its adoption, limitations, and potential to drive the evolution of smart buildings remain underexplored. This study addresses these gaps through a systematic literature review, incorporating bibliometric and qualitative analyses to evaluate the state of research on the SRI. The bibliometric analysis reveals that research on smart readiness is growing rapidly, with a strong focus on energy efficiency and smart buildings. This literature primarily evaluates and promotes the adoption of the SRI within buildings, aligning with the need to explore the paths for the evolution of smart buildings. The qualitative review summarizes six understudied research topic required to drive the evolution of smart buildings in the literature: The applicability of the SRI to different contexts, including various building types and climatic conditions; the subjectivity in the framework; the alignment with other certificates and standards; the SRI as a tool for smart retrofit; expansion to the neighborhood and district levels; and the score correlation with energy performance. The findings show that, although the SRI was originally introduced for buildings, it has much wider applicability, at the more detailed building component level as well as at the broader neighborhood and district levels. Future research could focus on the role of the SRI in evaluating smart readiness at the neighborhood scale and determining the minimum acceptable SRI score.

The increased smartness of the built environment is expected to contribute positively to climate change mitigation through energy conservation, efficient renewable energy utilization, and greenhouse gas emission reduction. Accordingly, significant investments are required in smart technologies, which enable the distributed supply of renewables and increased demand-side energy flexibility. The present study set out to understand the cash flows and economic viability of a real-life smart system investment in a building. The data collection process was threefold: First, a case building’s level of (energy) smartness was estimated. Second, the semi-structured interviews were held to understand the building owner’s motives for a smart investment. Third, the investment’s profitability was analyzed. The study found that the progressive smartness investment was technically feasible, and surprisingly also economically profitable. The original EUR 6 million investment provided over 10% return-on-investment and, thus, increased the property value by more than EUR 10 million. Moreover, the commercial partners also emphasized the strategic value gained by renewable energy and environmental performance. The high level of smartness with a good return on investment was accomplished mainly through new income generated from the reserve power markets. However, the results implied that financial profitability alone was not enough to justify the economic viability of a smart building system investment.

The reduction of environmental impact in buildings and the enhancement of environmental performance in the built environment are the key objectives of sustainable development. To achieve this, the adoption of green buildings requires a comprehensive construction approach that focuses on delivering environmentally friendly solutions throughout the entire construction process. This research aims to bridge the gap between theoretical concepts and the practical realities of construction in Iran. It proposes essential criteria and assigns weights to them for creating green buildings based on the opinions of experts from different backgrounds. To understand how buildings are influenced by the environment, society and economics, relevant factors were identified using library research. Web-based surveys involving experts, including architects, engineers, and environmental specialists, were conducted to gather insights into these criteria. A total of 14 criteria were accepted and categorized into economic, environmental, and social dimensions. The Analytic Network Process (ANP) methodology was employed to assess the opinions of 45 expert participants, as provided in the questionnaire. The findings indicate that, among sustainability features, the environmental factor holds the highest significance in Iran, while the social factor is considered the least important. Looking at the sub-criteria, reducing water consumption, financial incentives, and achieving energy efficiency at a reasonable cost are given the highest priority within the environmental, economic, and social aspects of green buildings.

This paper aims to evaluate how well the increasingly popular, market-based real estate energy efficiency improvement projects support the EU’s high-level smart energy transition targets. The implications of these EU-level targets for buildings are described in the smart readiness indicator (SRI) framework. As the SRI becomes mandatory, it is important for the industry to understand whether current market practices align with the SRI framework. This study is based on a qualitative analysis of 49 energy efficiency improvement project proposal reports for properties located in Finland. We use the SRI framework to evaluate the potential impact of the various energy efficiency improvements proposed in the reports on the smart energy transition targets. Three expert interviews were also conducted to gain the interviewees’ interpretations of the industry. While energy efficiency improvement projects are obviously aimed at improving energy efficiency, the results indicate that they are beneficial for some parts of the SRI, mainly within the SRI’s main categories of heating, controlled ventilation, and monitoring and control. Some proposed actions also contribute to increased smart readiness in the categories of cooling and lighting, but the remaining four main categories are generally not being taken into consideration.

The real estate sector is undergoing a significant transformation. The global energy transition has greatly impacted the entire energy infrastructure, forcing the energy-consuming property sector to increase its operational efficiency. Today, the European Union (EU) enhances building smartness in real estate through regulation. However, the attitudes towards smartness in the financially significant housing market remain unclear. This study observed the attitudes and readiness of Finnish housing market operators toward smartness at the end of 2022. In total, 13 semi-structured interviews were held with housing market professionals. The analysis was further supported by categorizing the interviewees into novice practitioners and smart building experts. The research results implied that the attitudes towards smartness among novice practitioners, including real estate investors and owners, are still rather reserved compared to the control group (consisting of smart building experts). However, enhancing the attitude of real estate investors and owners is crucial to ensure a successful smart transition towards carbon neutrality in the built environment. The results of this study highlight the need for a standardized metric for building smartness. However, engaging market practitioners in developing such metrics is essential to ensure that the future standard for smartness answers the market’s needs.