As the race to curb climate change heats up, the buildings that dot our cities will play a key role in reaching decarbonisation targets.
While new buildings can be designed with the best-in-class sustainability additions, much of the challenge lies in upgrading the vast number of existing buildings.
Louise Monger, Vice President of Digital Buildings at Schneider Electric, a leader in energy management and automation, said many of today’s buildings will still be in use and consuming energy by 2050.
“If we don’t tackle the problem in our existing stock, then in five or six years, everyone will be on the back foot and hitting the panic buttons,” she said.
This is due to the growing importance of decarbonisation for companies and the nation, which are becoming critical factors in building operations, tenant leasing, and financing.
To successfully decarbonise existing buildings, Ms Monger said technology can help create the foundations.
“The first step is to understand the strategy and where you need to go. Then the next step is digitisation to understand what your existing loads in the building are, capture that data, have appropriate metering strategies, and really understand the energy being used,” Ms Monger said.
Digital transformation in building management begins with smart meters, sensors and Internet of Things (IoT) devices that monitor energy consumption in real time, enabling building managers to optimise efficiency.
“Once you’ve got that understanding of what’s being used in the building, you can make the building as efficient as possible through building automation. That is through heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) controls, the use of analytics and, increasingly, artificial intelligence (AI),” Ms Monger said.
One example comes from Stockholm schools in Sweden, where AI was used to optimise energy use across 624 buildings.
“After five months, they were able to reduce heating by four per cent, electricity usage by 15 per cent, and CO2 emissions by 205 tons, while reducing occupant complaints by 23 per cent,” Ms Monger said.
“Without AI, achieving these results would have required substantial human intervention and cost.”
As the cost of digital technologies continues to fall, they are becoming more accessible even to smaller buildings and geographically dispersed facilities.
“We’ve seen the cost of that technology come down significantly in the last two or three years,” Ms Monger said.
This is particularly beneficial for industries like retail, where buildings such as supermarkets, fast food outlets and service stations are often small and spread out, Ms Monger said.
In the past, connecting these assets to a central monitoring system would have been cost-prohibitive. However, advancements in IoT, AI and data aggregation have made it easier to link systems in a more plug-and-play manner.
The trend toward integrating building systems with digital technologies is growing across all sectors, from data centres to schools.
“We’ve been on a process of more and more building systems having IoT-type devices or connectable products,” Ms Monger said.
“Switchboards, HVAC, and building management systems are increasingly connected, and we’re now able to aggregate data and link it with external data sets to further enhance AI capabilities.”
Ms Monger said the key to decarbonising existing buildings is setting a clear strategy and starting the journey toward net-zero emissions.
“Organisations need to set those targets, create that decarbonisation roadmap, and get started.
“And the way to get started is to have that baseline data and have those digital technologies in place that allow you to monitor energy and carbon in real time, rather than to see that as a burden.”
Find out how Schneider can help you capture the digital transformation of energy management and automation in your building. Schneider Electric Australia | Global Specialist in Energy Management and Automation (se.com)