Digital technologies and energy-management solutions that sense, monitor, control and optimise the built environment while it interacts with individuals are at the core of decarbonising buildings.
And they play an important role in reducing energy consumption, increasing energy efficiency and the adoption of renewables. There are five key steps to achieving carbon neutral buildings:
The first step is to deploy digital solutions and energy management such as monitoring, control and optimisation, which is at the core of decarbonising buildings.
Next is to increase energy efficiency by utilising building management systems and installing new, highly efficient motors and drives for example.
Expanding electrification is also important. For example, heat-pumps and having an electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
The installation of distributed renewable energy solutions should also feature in a low-carbon strategy—from photovoltaic technology and wind turbines, through to battery energy storage systems and thermal energy storage.
The final step is to procure renewable energy from the grid and offset any remaining emissions.
In the absence of a ‘one size fits all’ blueprint, our customers understand that their projects are unique and feature a combination of existing systems and equipment built over time.
This is why open-source technology and the interoperability between systems is so important.
In order to meet net-zero building targets, we must be able to retrofit a large percentage of existing buildings, and solutions need to be easy to install, with impact and return on investment clearly defined.
While not all technology blueprints for a smart, carbon neutral site are exactly the same, a typical customer smart building will use interconnected technologies to improve comfort and performance across energy management, water use, air-conditioning, access, automation, lighting, remote monitoring, and communication networks.
Thanks to ABB’s digital solution areas within the ABB Ability Building Ecosystem, for example, building operators and facility managers can have digital control of all these elements, and smart buildings will capture the transformative opportunities to become more environmentally friendly—from substantially contributing towards carbon reduction targets through efficiency gains in heating and cooling equipment and in the building itself.
The ABB digital solutions enable constant surveillance and optimum control of energy production, consumption and storage.
Largely autonomous, this learning system calculates the optimum energy flow based on predictive data and compensates for deviations in real time.
In a carbon neutral site, these technologies are combined for a holistic approach that can be easily scaled according to the requirements of the building.
Learn more about how ABB is supporting the building industry with smart, safe and sustainable electrification to enable a carbon neutral built environment.
Author
Matthew Doley
Market development manager—smart buildings, electrification, ABB Australia
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