Real-time IoT Data enabled Building Energy Efficiency

The global climate is warming faster than at any point in recorded history. Untamed levels of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that are already bringing increasingly severe risks for ecosystems, human health and the economy. Reducing this risk and ensuring a safe future means societies working together to stabilize temperature rise at around 1.5°C or otherwise minimize any overshoot in temperature and return to pre-industrial levels as soon as possible to decrease the risk for irreversible climate tipping points. To accomplish that, global GHG emissions should halve by 2030 from a 2020 baseline to reach near zero by 2050.

Energy accounts for over two-thirds of global GHG emissions. This means energy must be at the heart of any solution. To succeed in limiting global warming, the world urgently needs to use energy efficiently to make things move, heat up and cool down and put emissions into sharp structural decline. Now, an intense acceleration in the transitions to clean, sustainable energy that are already underway in many countries and industries, but only gradually – far too slowly to meet the challenges head on. To avoid high risk of catastrophic consequences for people and our living environment, everyone: companies, cities, nations and citizens, must by rapidly reducing their own emissions.

In essence, GHG emissions related to energy can be cut in two ways:

​by opting for cleaner energy sources, for example by replacing fossil fuels with non-combustible renewable sources (solar & wind power),

​and/or by reducing the overall energy consumption through energy savings and energy efficiency gains, for instance by optimizing the use of building space and facilities with automation or move towards a low-emission vehicle fleet.

We spend most of our lives inside buildings, but our impact on the climate is not appropriately measured. This must transform if emissions in this sector are to halve by 2030, but we will also need to get comfortable with using buildings in new ways. Exponential technologies can help to lower energy use through better materials and automation control systems. Instead, the total area of buildings worldwide is growing rapidly – resulting in emissions from both construction and use.
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The most common way of measuring energy use in buildings is kWh/sqm but does not account for the benefit given by the building. Therefore, it should be complemented with a measurement of energy use divided by intensity of use, like energy use per resident or energy use per client, depending on the purpose of the building. This provides much in-depth data of energy demand for effective transition to a low GHG emissions for buildings.

Reduced energy use during operation

The amount of operational energy used by a building can be reduced by automatically adjusting lighting, temperature and ventilation in accordance with how a building is used. Home and building automation can help drive down energy waste by adjusting to occupancy and need. A building can be divided up into zones which are only lit, heated, cooled and ventilated when they are used – hence minimize the power consumption without compromising the occupant's comfort.
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Smart Energy Monitoring, Load Management and Energy IoT are increasingly essential in the effort to perform closed-loop measurement of carbon consumption and waste as well as analyzing and regulating GHG emissions aligned with a 1.5°C pathway.

Reduced demand for building space

Some industries have dramatically reduced their need for building space in recent years – most notably banks, where so many of the activities that used to be performed there have moved online. Demand for building space can be reduced by more efficient use of space. This can be achieved either through more intense use per square meter or per day. For example, implementing flexible seating (“hot desking”) in offices can increase space utilization, double the space efficiency compared to traditional office solutions when flexi-hour, Work From Home (WFH) are implemented.

Digitalization like booking system, QR order and people counting can help drive down energy waste by double or quadruple space utilization through new digitally enabled sharing models, while simultaneously improving productivity and reducing costs.

Doubled retrofitting

Two-thirds of the buildings that exist today will still be standing in 2050. Since buildings account for as much as 70% of a city’s GHG emissions, doubling the pace of retrofitting holds great potential for reducing emissions.

Building lighting and HVAC account for 60-75% of its primary energy use. Upgrading and/or optimizing existing fittings and fixtures to have automated LED lighting, energy-efficient HVAC, indoor environment quality monitoring and control and smart shading will have the most impact.

Additionally, Internet of Things (IoT) that connected to a common architecture can offer energy reports and analysis on buildings, assets and areas which waste most of the energy and streamline facilities work with real-time data.

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Building real-time data for climate action

Successful GHG emissions cuts will depend on collecting and organizing data of all kinds. So that relationships are clear, cause and effect are established, and deviating opinions and assumptions explained. By systematically presenting building energy data, we can see correctly where we stand, focus on the right actions, hold stakeholders accountable and spread best practice.​

We want data which is well organized, maintainable, scalable and can be further integrated to third party system. We need to provide data structure that lets users follow solutions and policies, see their result on leading indicators, and quantify their impact on emissions savings. A framework that makes it possible to update, compare and share these findings across business sectors and supply chains.

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