The energy efficiency of smart buildings

In the context of global energy stress and the fight against climate change, reducing consumption and producing low-carbon energy are major challenges for all sectors, starting with the building sector.

Discover how smart buildings can help you achieve the energy efficiency you need to meet these challenges.

The subject is far from trivial. In addition to a tense climatic and geopolitical context, the evolution of the regulatory framework is pressing constructors, lessors, real estate companies, and other property owners to take action.

In the context of the European Green Deal, the European Commission thus determined that the building sector must reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 60% by 2030 compared to 2015, and achieve climate neutrality by 2050. These objectives are intended to contribute to the EU’s ambition to reduce its emissions by 55% by 2030, and by 80% to 95% by 2050.

As a result, standards and regulations are rapidly tightening in France. The tertiary decree and the BACS decree attest to this.

Published in July 2019 following the enactment of the ELAN law, the Eco-Efficiency Tertiary Device (DEET), also known as the « tertiary decree », precisely imposes a progressive reduction in energy consumption for all tertiary buildings or premises with an operating area of ​​1,000 m² or more: minus 40% by 2030, minus 50% by 2040, and minus 60% by 2050 compared to a reference year that cannot be earlier than 2010.

And the BACS decree (Building Automation & Control Systems), published in July 2020, requires new and existing tertiary buildings to equip themselves with automation and control systems (at least class C), in order to achieve the energy consumption reduction goals set by the tertiary decree.

Because these systems rely on three pillars to manage major energy-consuming equipment such as air conditioning, heating, hot water, integrated lighting, or ventilation. First, they are capable of monitoring, recording, and analyzing the energy consumption of a site, while continuously adjusting the temperature and lighting according to needs. They can thus detect inefficiencies in the systems they monitor. Moreover, they are interoperable among the various systems of a building, boiler room, air conditioning, air treatment, whatever. Finally, for safety reasons, they are equipped with a manual shutdown function to allow autonomous management of one or more technical systems.

Both existing and new buildings are therefore concerned. But the regulation provides for different conditions and deadlines. Existing buildings equipped with systems with a power greater than 290 kW must thus equip themselves with BACS by January 1, 2025, while those equipped with systems between 70 kW and 290 kW will have until January 1, 2027 to do so. As for new buildings, whose building permits were submitted after the publication of the decree, they must ensure that all their technical systems are connected to the automation and control system.

Conceiving energy-efficient buildings requires, of course, different materials and energy sources. But the lifespan of the building also comes into play. And to ensure that each building or other construction is energy-efficient throughout its life, intelligent management of consumption, equipment, and space occupancy can make a big difference. This is precisely one of the highlights of smart building.

Under pressure from the context, owners and constructors nonetheless have much to gain by choosing Smart Building solutions. Not only will this guarantee compliance and engagement in the fight against climate change, but they will also be able to make significant savings in the future.

“The installation of a building technical management system, in addition to complying with regulations, allows for significant savings, knowing that energy consumption for heating and air conditioning often constitutes 50% of consumption in a tertiary building, specifically the Smart Building Alliance (SBA).
Thus, it constitutes an action of energy and digital renovation with quick gains and prepares the building for future developments: renewable energy production, electric vehicle charging…”

In the first place, sensors, connectivity, and real-time centralized control associated with Smart buildings provide the means for buildings to reduce their consumption and thus the associated bills.

Here are a few examples of IoT sensors commonly used in smart buildings:

• Temperature and humidity sensors that measure temperature and humidity in different parts of the building to optimize heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC).
• Indoor air quality (IAQ) sensors that measure levels of pollutants in indoor air, such as CO2, fine particles, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and other pollutants, to maintain good air quality for occupants.
• Brightness sensors that measure the amount of natural and artificial light in the building to adjust lighting accordingly.
• Presence sensors that detect the presence of occupants in the building to adjust HVAC, lighting and other parameters as required.

The cross-analysis of all the data collected enables us to set up operating models that optimize the building’s energy performance.
But above all, it is the fluid communication between the various systems that ensures substantial gains in energy consumption. It provides rapid feedback on malfunctions or critical operating times, facilitating reactive and predictive maintenance. And it guarantees precise analyses for fine-tuning systems to avoid wastage, while ensuring that users enjoy the comfort they need at the right time and in the right place.

To do this, the Certivéa organization, in collaboration with the Smart Buildings Alliance (SBA), has established the R2S label dedicated to ensuring good building connectivity and the extension R2S – 4GRIDS, a framework in 5 themes for consuming better and less. “From monitoring energy consumption to system interoperability, the R2S-4GRIDS Label thus constitutes a real support tool for implementing the BACS decree, from design to building operation, by offering energy management services, and even energy flexibility, to consume better and less”, describes Certivéa.

Experience feedback highlights significant savings. After two years of operation, the WAVE building of VINCI Energies, the first to obtain the highest level of the R2S label (Ready2Services), “performs much better than the other two buildings in our real estate complex, consuming only a quarter of the energy compared to what they use”, testifies for example, David Desablence,Director at VINCI Energies.

Overall, a Smart Building approach is therefore a real lever for energy efficiency in homes, offices, shops, or hospitals. In order to truly be able to finely tune and control each room and equipment in a building, connectivity alone is not enough. It is necessary to be able to analyze and supervise at the building level, especially at a time when the notion of occupant is increasingly giving way to that of building user, particularly in the tertiary sector. And the more buildings are able to adapt energy demand to usage, the more efficient they will be.

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