Digital Twin of buildings: a way to enhance energy efficiency and net zero commitments

Buildings in the EU are responsible for 40% of energy consumption and 36% of greenhouse gas emissions that includes construction, usage, renovation and demolition phases (1). Legislation such as the European Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) is progressively addressing these challenges by establishing concepts of zero emission and nearly zero emission buildings. The EU Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) established the “how” by universal deployment of smart meters and high-efficiency drives. The EU Renewable Energy Directive (RED) paved the way for renewables and waste heat recovery in the urban environment. Digitalization brings it all together.

Digital Twins are a representation of real-world physical assets that serves for simulation, integration, testing, monitoring, and maintenance purposes.

In the context of buildings, Digital Twins bring numerous benefits. First, it connects the smart building to the smart city so that a building is no longer managed as an isolated entity but as an active cell in a larger organism with which it interacts at many levels: people, goods, utilities and data.

Second, it leverages AI to build complex models, forecast, reduce risk and send early warnings on any areas of interest: from building occupancy and comfort temperature to biological risks and cyber attacks.

Third, it makes sustainability and carbon footprint visible real-time and therefore actionable. It also reinforces District Heating and Cooling’s advantages for heat delivery, sustainability and affordability.

Last but not least, it is easy to implement without disrupting current building infrastructure, ideal for building renovations as well it is technology agnostic, it leverages all utilities and sensors already installed (telecoms, water, power, surveillance, HVAC).

In conclusion, digital twins of buildings are a good way forward to drive an ambitious energy efficiency and net zero agenda in the future that should be considered by policy-makers, local authorities and stakeholders.

Victor Ferre
Senior Director Vertical Marketing – Building Services Europe
Xylem

Source: 1. In focus: Energy efficiency in buildings. European Commission

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To deliver the ambition of new energy efficiency directives

Switching all conventional light points to LEDs is one of the easiest, quickest and most cost-effective ways of reducing energy consumption, says Alice Steenland from Signify says Alice Steenland of Signify in Foresight Climate & Energy ahead of the second edition of European Energy Efficiency Day.

A simple change can make a big difference.

Simply swapping conventional lights for LED alternatives can reduce lighting-related energy usage by 50% or more. With smart lighting management in place, energy savings can approach 80% over conventional technology.

In Europe, half of all currently installed lights, residential and commercial combined, are conventional. This represents an enormous opportunity. Replacing all conventional lights in the EU with LED alternatives could save an estimated €65 billion in energy costs, depending on energy rates, and could reduce CO2 emissions by 51 million tonnes—not just once, but every single year.

 

Read the full article on Foresight Climate & Energy.

More information on Energy Efficiency Day here & Register here.

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Future of the Energy Union: bringing the transformative potential of energy efficiency in the National Energy and Climate Plans

As EU member states prepare to submit their revised National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs) to the European Commission on 30 June, they must pay greater attention to energy efficiency, writes EU-ASE President Monica Frassoni in Euractiv.

A future energy system must be highly energy and resource efficient, based on renewables, secure, competitive, affordable and of course, safe. One that can respond to the climate, energy and water crises that increasingly perturb our economy and create social tensions.

Reducing energy needs and doing this through ready-to-use technologies and a system approach is key to success of Europe’s future energy union and the Green Deal. The Energy Efficiency community needs therefore to have a regular seat at the table.

This is not always the case.

 

Read the full article byMonica Frassoni in Euractiv.

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It’s time to unlock the demand side potential in accelerating the energy transition.

In recent months the term “polycrisis” has found its way into our vocabulary. This term captures the multiple crises (climate; energy; inflation; war in Ukraine; …) that are impacting society at large. A sobering reality is that all these crises were created by mankind, as we use the wrong energy and waste too much of it, thus paying far too much in powering our economies and living our lives. On the flipside this means that as mankind we are in the driver’s seat in tackling these challenges. The good news is that the solutions are also interrelated and have raised the relevance and awareness of the energy transition to efficient and clean technologies.

Much attention goes out to the “supply side” of the energy transition, both on the energy mix (with ongoing high use of coal; a search for alternative gas supplies; scaling renewables; investments in hydrogen and nuclear) and energy intensive industries with large stimuli programs in Europe and the US (the Green Deal Industrial Plan and the Inflation Reduction Act). Yet the structural changes to decarbonize our energy system at the supply side of the energy transition will need time to reach scale and impact.

As the world needs solutions on a much shorter term, the time is right to unlock the vast potential at the “demand side” of the energy transition. This largely comes down to stepping up our collective efforts on energy efficiency.

The electrification of heating, transport and other service systems require a massive amount of electricity. The average global electricity consumption of a household (3400 kWh) is almost exactly equal to the annual amount of electricity needed to charge an electric vehicle or to power a heat pump. Already the grid is close to a point where countries are at or near capacity.

For example, while the lighting sector is positively known for the transition to LED lighting, lighting alone still accounts for 13% of global electricity usage. Importantly around half of all light points in the US and EU are still conventional, offering an enormous opportunity for rapid reductions of lighting-related energy consumption. LED lighting retrofits are relatively fast and easy, with few invasive activities involved.

Through a complete switch to connected LEDs, the EU has the potential to save €65.1 billion in energy costs annually and mitigate 51 MTons of carbon emissions, while freeing up enough electricity to power 47 million heat pumps and thus keep a quarter of all households warm each year. The reduction in carbon dioxide would be equal to the sequestration capacity of a forest the size of Switzerland.

Like for lighting, many other solutions exist and Europe’s “demand side companies” operate at the cutting edge of active and passive energy efficiency technologies including lighting, building management systems, sensors, controls, insulation, windows and many others.

Energy efficiency technologies can generate savings often called “low-hanging fruit” waiting to be picked, so let us roll up our sleeves and pick those fruits for the benefit of Europe’s competitiveness and the well-being of its citizens.

Harry Verhaar
Head of Global Public and Government Affairs
Signify

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The water-energy nexus: connecting water saving, energy efficiency and the reduction of emissions.

Water and energy are probably two of the most essential, interlinked, and precious resources in our daily lives. In our current climate and energy crisis, unleashing the potential of the water-energy nexus will drive substantial water and energy savings, reducing emissions and increase the competitiveness of European industry, says Monica Frassoni in the Spring 2023 issue of European Energy Innovation Magazine.

The great thing is that we already have the technologies and solutions to simultaneously save water and energy.  A strong policy framework is needed to incentivise water and energy efficiency and enable the deployment at scale of these solutions. The water-energy nexus should be better reflected in legislation, and lawmakers should fully consider the benefits stemming from water efficiency as a key driver to delivering energy savings.

 

Read the full article byMonica Frassoni in European Energy Innovation Magazine. 

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