All new buildings from 2021 to be nearly Zero Energy buildings

Digital innovation, combined with a shift to more electrification, holds the key to tackling climate change, unlocking the ability to see and measure our impact, so we can recognise and reduce it.

Energy waste is happening all around us, and it’s contributing to climate change. Digital adoption is also one of the biggest barriers to action. Reducing perceived risk and uncertainty will create frameworks in which businesses and consumers can adopt digital solutions early. This starts with raising our standards and working to ensure that the solutions we deploy are energy efficient, open, interoperable, and future proof.

If we truly want to tackle climate change, it makes sense to turn our attention to the biggest contributors. Buildings account for almost a third of the world’s CO2 emissions by source, a number that rises to almost 40 percent when factoring in construction. In the developing world, residential homes are shortly set to become the largest single source of greenhouse gas emissions, according to a report published in PNAS (Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences).

The solution is to build new buildings better from the outset, and to retrofit existing ones so they become more energy efficient. Schneider Electric estimates that 82 percent of the potential means to reduce energy waste in buildings alone remains untapped. Positive change won’t be possible without raising some of the existing standards and regulations, accelerating their adoption, raising the bar.

Adoption of standards for new buildings

It is to ensure that all new buildings are compliant with government regulations, are net-zero, energy efficient and people-centric by design. However, more developers unlocking smart, sustainable solutions and energy-efficiency in new buildings, progress remains slow.

The tighter regulations are being adopted in many parts of the world. In Europe, the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) requires all new buildings from 2021 to be nearly zeroenergy (NZEB). Hong Kong aims to reduce its absolute carbon emissions in 2030 by between 26 percent and 36 percent, relative to 2005 levels. Singapore aims to have at least 80 percent of commercial and public buildings Green Mark certified by 2030.

Energy efficiency in existing buildings

Today, software and connected smart technologies – the brain and the nervous system of a building – can control the building’s ‘shell’ and heating system, and ultimately determine how smart and energy efficient it will be. And they can be deployed not just in new-builds, but also in buildings that are centuries old.

‘Retrofits are also a win in terms of Return on Investment (ROI). We estimate that the average payback on digital retrofits is just one to three years, compared to 10 years on physical modifications like insulation. We typically see a 30 percent reduction in energy usage, and similar reduction in operational costs, as a direct result of smart building technologies that improve sustainability, energy efficiency, and enable buildings to generate their own energy through solar power and micro-grids and use it to power critical operations,’- notes Schneider Electric. Encouragingly, several countries have included buildingrenovation subsidies into their pandemicrelated stimulus packages.

Energy efficiency is the cheapest and easiest way to reduce energy demand and CO2 emissions. By 2035, the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that US$ 550 billion will be invested per year in energy efficiency solutions. To date, European governments have pledged US$ 57 billion to energy efficiency measures (or 86 percent of global stimulus announcements for efficiency), with the remaining 14 percent split between Asia Pacific and North America, according to the IEA. We must make the most of this investment and ensure the benefits of energy efficiency become abundantly clear to consumers and companies alike.

Electrification of heating: A way to lower emissions

Alongside retrofits, the electrification of domestic heating systems – which currently rely heavily on fossil fuels — will play a major role in reducing our impact on the planet, driven by regulations for new buildings. Safe and cost-effective technologies such as electric heat pumps are already widely available in many countries, and can be powered by 100 percent renewable energy sources. They are the best and only realistic choice for decarbonising domestic heating.

Better technology standards

Whilst building standards and incentives require governments to legislate for change, when it comes to creating an environment to encourage the wider adoption of sustainable smart home and building technology, business is at the fore.

Sustainability will be the clear winner only when all IoT-connected smart technologies in a building – from Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) to smart plugs, to security systems – can be controlled by cutting-edge digital solutions and software, and powered by green electricity. This is when buildings will be able to attain superior levels of energy efficiency, the ability to power their own needs through renewable energy generation on site and decarbonise their heating and cooling systems – while allowing tenants to charge their EVs – all in a sustainable and environmentally responsible way.

With the help of AI-enabled and software-driven smart energy management solutions, consumers, building owners and tenants will be in the driving seat of how energy in the home is produced, stored, distributed and consumed.

What’s more, the ability to produce renewable energy through solar and microgrids, and store it for future use, will make it possible for smart building systems to prioritise green energy power, ensuring power-hungry appliances and devices, including EVs, consume most of their energy from decarbonised energy sources. Energy efficiency and clean electricity to tackle global warming.

We are the first generation to really understand the full implications of climate change – and perhaps the last to be able to make a difference. Armed with knowledge and technology, we must act fast to avoid future catastrophe.

The first step is to become more efficient in how we consume energy, and to remove fossil fuels from places where they don’t have to be – our homes and offices, our cars, public transport and our cities. Raising standards for urban environments and technology will mean better standards of life for all of us – and guarantee better outcomes for the planet. Digital solutions and clean electricity are the way to get there.

For more information, visit https://www. se.com/ca/en/.