Buildings account for a large share of energy consumption, positioning themselves as key players in the pursuit of increased energy efficiency and sustainable energy solutions. Energy consumption in the residential and tertiary sectors buildings is particularly high in developed countries, offering a good opportunity for efficiency and energy sustainability improvement.

The increasing use of renewable energy sources, particularly the ones based on solar and wind energy, in buildings represents a major step in the direction of energy sustainable buildings. Effective energy resource management is crucial to take the best advantage of renewable-based energy generation, addressing the buildings occupants' needs and comfort in coordination with the available energy resources, particularly on-site energy generation and storage. Energy resource management should also rely on the consumers’ ability to change their load profile, using their demand flexibility, taking advantage of the intermittency of renewable energy sources and from dynamic energy prices.

On one hand, buildings' active energy management enables them to significantly lower their energy costs by adapting their consumption to the renewable-based energy generation and to the energy prices, based on time of use and dynamic tariffs or on energy market prices. On the other hand, the buildings can also participate in demand response programs, responding to the interest of external entities (such as network operators and resource aggregators), and receiving the respective incentives for changing their a priori aimed consumption. In this way, efficient energy management in buildings clearly contributes to more sustainable buildings and to the increased sustainability of the whole energy system.

This Research Topic on "Sustainable Energy Buildings: Technical and Business Approaches” aims to address the current state-of-the-art, innovative scientific and technical developments, new models, methods and tools, sound simulations and case studies, and pilot and commercial experiences, which are relevant in the area, considering electricity, heat, and cooling building needs.

We invite contributions addressing different approaches to the Research Topic, including technical and business approaches. Renewable-based generation, energy storage, energy demand, energy resource management, demand response, demand side management, energy consumption analysis and profiling, electric and hybrid vehicles in buildings, as well as approaches for the building interaction with the outside relevant players (energy suppliers, smart energy communities, smart grids, network and system operators, aggregators, energy markets operators, etc.) are relevant aspects for the submitted contributions.

Topics to be covered include but are not limited to:
- Acquisition, management, and use of data regarding the energy consumption of the building (lighting, HVAC, heating, cooling)
- Business models for sustainable energy buildings and for their contribution to sustainable energy systems
- Energy resource management in buildings considering some of all of the following: demand, generation, storage, load flexibility, electric vehicles
- IoT and artificial intelligence based solutions for sustainable energy buildings
- Integration of buildings with aggregators and smart grids
- Interaction between buildings and the external world: energy suppliers, smart energy communities, smart grids, network and system operators, aggregators, energy markets operators, etc.

Keywords: Demand Response, Energy Management, Load Flexibility, Renewable Energy, Smart Grids, Energy Efficient Buildings

Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.