Sociotechnical design of building energy management systems in the public sector: Five design principles

Advocacy for energy efficiency solutions in non-residential buildings, particularly within the public sector, is part of the response to the climate crisis by the European Union (EU). Traditional building energy management systems (BEMS) focus primarily on technological advancements but often overlook the influence of occupant behaviour on energy consumption. This study develops a set of five design principles aimed at bridging this sociotechnical gap by integrating behavioural strategies with technical solutions. Following a design principle (DP) development framework, informed by an integrative literature review and the abstraction hierarchy (AH) method, the study proposes actionable guidelines for designing BEMS architectures. With the aim of supporting future BEMS blueprints, a conceptual architecture is created based on the design principles. A BEMS proof-of-concept (PoC) demonstrates how to apply the design principles and the architecture to potentially optimise the use of renewable energy sources in a public sector building. The minimum reusability evaluation framework is employed to evaluate the proposed principles theoretically. The novelty of this work lies in its interdisciplinary approach, which goes beyond previous studies by offering normative guidance that balances both technology and human factors. These findings suggest that a sociotechnical approach to BEMS design can significantly enhance energy efficiency, offering valuable insights for stakeholders, such as system designers and energy managers. Future research should focus on real-world implementation and empirical validation of the proposed principles. • We identify five design principles for non-residential building energy management systems. • These principles enable designers to take account of human behaviour in system designs. • We emphasise the synergies achieved by combining nudges and technology within system designs. • Design principles are used to formulate a conceptual architecture.