Energy management.
Gebäudeleittechnik.
Sustainable real estate development: energy management as key to resource efficiency
At a time when sustainability and resource efficiency keep gaining in significance, the real estate industry has taken on the challenge to minimise its ecological footprint. One of the main angles to get this done is proper energy management, which not only brings down the operating costs but also helps to meet statutory requirements and to augment a property’s value.
So, what we strive for is to develop a comprehensive energy management strategy that advances the automated measurement of consumption data, the identification of efficiency potential and the implementation of improvement measures.
In addition to the automated metering of electricity and gas, e.g. via so-called smart meters, this required the aggregation of data from sub-meters and sensors so as to obtain a detailed picture of the technical building equipment (TBE). While some of the newer buildings collect these data via their existing building control systems, older buildings can pose quite a challenge because they often require the retrofitting of various technical systems before precision data can be captured. We are currently in the process of evaluating a number of high-tech and low-tech solution in order to identify suitable approaches for the various types of buildings in our portfolio.
At the moment, our focus is on existing non-residential buildings whose facilities have a nominal heating or cooling capacity of more than 290 kW as we seek to ensure they meet the effective statutory requirements. In addition to the successful implementation of an energy management system in such buildings, we plan to extend our strategy incrementally to residential buildings with similar criteria (>290 kW) before expanding the program further to include buildings with a heating or cooling capacity of more than 70 kW to bring them in line with the requirements of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD).
In addition to the requirements that any standing building should satisfy, new-build structures must have automatic control of their TBE so as to be able to quickly implement the optimisation measures identified. This requirement applies to all new buildings that we add to our portfolio.
Our long-term objective is to find viable and sustainable solutions for all of our portfolio buildings in order to be able to make steady progress in our drive for more energy efficiency. To this end, we take the specificities of each building into account and strive for a well-balanced relation between technological innovation and financial feasibility. The idea behind this holistic approach is not just to lower the energy consumption but also to preserve the value and long-term viability of our real estate.
So, what we strive for is to develop a comprehensive energy management strategy that advances the automated measurement of consumption data, the identification of efficiency potential and the implementation of improvement measures.
In addition to the automated metering of electricity and gas, e.g. via so-called smart meters, this required the aggregation of data from sub-meters and sensors so as to obtain a detailed picture of the technical building equipment (TBE). While some of the newer buildings collect these data via their existing building control systems, older buildings can pose quite a challenge because they often require the retrofitting of various technical systems before precision data can be captured. We are currently in the process of evaluating a number of high-tech and low-tech solution in order to identify suitable approaches for the various types of buildings in our portfolio.
At the moment, our focus is on existing non-residential buildings whose facilities have a nominal heating or cooling capacity of more than 290 kW as we seek to ensure they meet the effective statutory requirements. In addition to the successful implementation of an energy management system in such buildings, we plan to extend our strategy incrementally to residential buildings with similar criteria (>290 kW) before expanding the program further to include buildings with a heating or cooling capacity of more than 70 kW to bring them in line with the requirements of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD).
In addition to the requirements that any standing building should satisfy, new-build structures must have automatic control of their TBE so as to be able to quickly implement the optimisation measures identified. This requirement applies to all new buildings that we add to our portfolio.
Our long-term objective is to find viable and sustainable solutions for all of our portfolio buildings in order to be able to make steady progress in our drive for more energy efficiency. To this end, we take the specificities of each building into account and strive for a well-balanced relation between technological innovation and financial feasibility. The idea behind this holistic approach is not just to lower the energy consumption but also to preserve the value and long-term viability of our real estate.
