Smart buildings, smart cities and governing innovation in the new millennium

Climate Change and the volatility of fossil fuel prices put pressure on our global society, on politics, research and technology development and markets. The dimension of necessary efforts to reach agreed emission targets show that new approaches are necessary. Naturally, one focus lies on cities as huge producers of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Smart cities of the future will benefit from regional and on-site renewable energy generation and from a fully integrated desig and management of their energy systems. Large buildings will be active nodes in thermal and electric energy systems, providing energy generation, load shifts, and energy storage capacities beside their main functionalities.