Buildings

Explore the Mind Map to learn about the sustainable use of ICT in the Buildings Sector!

In Europe 40% of total energy is used in buildings [1], in China it can be numbered as one third [2]. Because of the high energy demand for heating, cooling, ventilation and lighting in buildings there are many approaches to reduce the energy usage by better insulation and more efficient systems on the one hand, and to make buildings self-supporting in terms of energy supply on the other hand. The potential for energy and emissions savings by improvements in this sector can be considered as large. A recent study in the UK showed that a single domestic property fitted with photovoltaics saved about 1 tonne of CO2 emissions in one year [3]. There are many different options to reduce energy demand in buildings, which refer to directly reducing demand by more efficient systems and insulation, as well as integrating small-scale power generators, which make use of renewable energy sources. To summarize these actions in one term, it is all about improving building design. ICT is the dominating technology to enable such improvements in buildings. Gains in energy efficiency enabled by ICT can mainly be achieved by automation. Therefore systems are developed for automated management and control of lighting, heating, ventilation and air conditioning. To make use of building integrated energy generators, like photovoltaics or wind turbines, ICT systems are needed too. There are already a few projects integrating wind turbines in buildings to provide them with clean and renewable energy [2]. In this context information technology is used to manage the needed electricity grids, that can deal with the varying work load of wind turbines. This implicates the storage of electricity in times when more power is generated than used, as well as managing additional sources of energy when the work load of the wind turbine is too low to meet total demand.
In terms of approaches in reducing emissions, buildings will be closely linked to the power supply sector in future. This is because of the distribution of Smart Grids, that allow buildings to become power supplying units. The are concepts in development, that force electricity generators integrated in buildings as local power stations for electric vehicles [4]. Concepts like these link the buildings sector to the transport sector, mainly to individual transport, as well. This shows the future importance of new approaches in the buildings sector.
The leading term for ICT supported management of buildings is Computer Aided Facility Management (CAFM) [5]. This involves the management, control and maintenance of buildings and its systems. It is the integration of different systems for heating, ventilation, cooling, lighting and small-scale power generators that characterizes the role of ICT in improving building design. An important issue of this integration are open standards, that enable interoperability of different technologies and the usage of new systems in existing buildings [6]. Beside utilization and maintenance of buildings, the advantages of ICT systems can be useful in design, construction and demolition phase too [4]. To reach the whole potential of energy efficiency in buildings, optimization of all phases in a building’s life cycle is necessary. For example there are Building Information Management (BIM) systems [7], that provide architects and engineers with necessary information in design and construction phase, which leads to optimized building design. These systems also enable the automation of design processes, resulting in shorter development times. The advantages of BIM systems can be accounted by energy assessments, improved documentation, air-flow simulations and cost analysis for example. ICT solutions for the use in operational phase of buildings are called Building Management Systems (BMS) [7]. These applications provide functionalities for the automation of monitoring and control of room conditioning and security systems.
The role of ICT for energy savings in buildings as stated by the SMART 2020 Report is as follows [4]:

• Standardize, monitor and account: ICT systems can be used to adapt local heating, ventilation and lighting to the needs of occupants, without wasting resources. Furthermore modeling and simulating energy usage scenarios in buildings and benchmarking of building performance is enabled. The establishment of standards for technology compatibility and benchmark comparison would ease efficiency gains. Improvements in building design can be achieved by networks for remote monitoring and management of building systems and automation solutions, based on energy efficient hardware. 
• Rethink: The inefficiencies of building management systems can be found and improved by the use of ICT. Also the involvement and engagement of users has to be extended to reach an optimum in energy usage. Information plays a major role in this adoption process towards a low carbon economy. 
• Transform: The vision of future building design involves buildings which are adjustable to user preferences. Therefore improved user interfaces are needed. To make building usage more efficient technologies for teleworking and collaboration have to be improved. Future buildings should be equipped with local energy supply (e.g. photovoltaics) and systems for automated control, diagnosis and maintenance. 

There are estimations that the total emissions arising from building sector will reach 11.7 GtCO2e in 2020. The Smart 2020 Report states that improved building design and the use of automation technology could save 1.68 GtCO2e globally [4]. Other sources expect that the building sector would be able to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 30-35 percent by 2050, in spite of growing numbers of buildings, by tapping the full potential of today’s technology [7]. Basically there are two types of improving building design. The first possibility is to equip new buildings with modern building management systems in construction phase. The systems are already considered in design phase, which makes optimization easier in comparison to integrating such systems in existing building, which is the second type of improvement. To reach the amount of emissions saving that is needed to successfully address the climate problem, both types of improved building design have to be realized. Equipping existing buildings with modern technologies globally is a large-scale project, but the energy saving potential is large. The retrofitting of existing buildings is a major part of the possibility supplied by ICT to reduce the carbon footprint of the building sector [6], since 80 percent of the existing building stock is more than 10 years old [7].
Complying to the three dimensions of sustainability the net benefit of ICT enabled improved building design has economic, environmental and social aspects [7]:

• Economic benefit – Reduced operating costs of facilities, due to lower energy consumption in design, utilization and maintenance. – Investments in the economy, in form of retrofitting activities and development of innovative building design to meet new standards and requirements. 
• Environmental benefit – An estimation of 33.5 million tons of CO2 savings per year. 
• Social benefit – Creation of jobs in design and construction of buildings for retrofitting and design improvements. 

Although large energy savings can be expected from improvements in building design, commissioning, utilization, operation and maintenance, there are some hurdles to adopt these technologies. There is a lack of incentives for building designers and architects to integrate energy saving technology into buildings, since the payback periods are often long [4]. Therefore it is up to governments to provide such incentives, for example by tax deductions for reaching certified performance levels of energy efficiency in buildings [7]. The need to measure efficiency levels of buildings is one part of the importance of establishing standards for building technologies. There have to be standards in rating systems and valuation tools for buildings [4], as well as standards for the interoperability of building integrated technologies. Standardization is one of the benefits ICT can offer to other sectors. It is one of the reasons for the success of the ICT sector, that it established international standards for communication and information exchange [6]. The success of reducing energy demand and emissions in the building sector will depend on the agreement on standards for system design and monitoring. Standards can be seen as a basis for achieving potential efficiency gains [6], because of their characteristic to offer interoperability and comparability.

References

[1] W. Zeiler, R. Houten, G.t Boxem, P. Savanovic, J. Velden, W. Wortel, J.-F. Haan, R. Kamphuis, and H. Broekhuizen. Design ontology for comfort systems and energy infrastructures: Flexergy.  In Robert J. Howlett, Lakhmi C. Jain, and Shaun H. Lee, editors, Sustainability in Energy and Buildings, pages 49–58. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2009.

[2] B. Cai and H. Jin.  Development and strategies of building integrated wind turbines in china. In Robert J. Howlett, Lakhmi C. Jain, and Shaun H. Lee, editors, Sustainability in Energy and Buildings, pages 71–78. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2009.

[3] F. J. O’Flaherty, J. A. Pinder, and C. Jackson. The role of photovoltaics in reducing carbon emissions in domestic properties. In Robert J. Howlett, Lakhmi C. Jain, and Shaun H. Lee, editors, Sustainability in Energy and Buildings, pages 107–115. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2009.

[4] The Climate Group. Smart 2020: Enabling the low carbon economy in the information age. Technical report, The Climate Group on behalf of the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI), 2008.

[5] International Facility Management Association (IFMA). Glossary of facility management
terms. http://fmpedia.org/. Accessed: 2011-11-07.

[6] B. Tomlinson. Greening through IT - Information Technology for Environmental Sustainability. The MIT Press, 2010.

[7] G. Philipson. Ict’s role in the low carbon economy. Technical report, Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA), 2010.