Feature
Addressing Building Efficiency: Modern Solutions for Modern Problems
Insight from Kas Mohammed, VP of Digital Energy at Schneider Electric
Creating efficient buildings is central to the decarbonization effort. The clean electrification of building use and more efficient building stock is estimated to contribute to 80% of the effort to achieve net-zero emissions in the sector, according data from the International Energy Agency (IEA)1
.
Current building stock accounts for 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions2
phase), and this figure is expected to only increase as the building stock will nearly double by 20503
(around 30% if accounting for the construction .
However, efforts to accelerate building renovations have seen little success on a global level. This is due to a number of obstacles including a lack of data and monitoring4
over what
is considered to be a fragmented sector, as well as a lack of performance standards5
The steep costs of building renovations have also discouraged funding from public authorities6
alike. Furthermore, rebound effects on demand8 are a key limiting
factor to traditional energy efficiency programs. Demand increases as a building becomes more efficient and the cost of energy is lowered.
When analysing the facts, it becomes clear that a new approach in needed to improve building efficiency.
20 fmuk
leading to the misallocation of funds. and the private sector7
Turning To Digital Solutions
To date, little data has been made available regarding digital solutions. Existing studies are often based on special use cases in special conditions with limited global applicability. In response to the deficit of up-to-date data, our latest modelling analysis9 of 6 building archetypes in 19 regions performed over 1,3000 simulations to provide much needed quantified evidence of the potential of digital solutions.
Our findings10
improve building efficiency. •
Digital
support the deployment of digital solutions to solutions have a
high carbon abatement
potential of 20-30%. • Digital solutions enjoy competitive paybacks below
8 years on average and cost savings up to 40% for consumers (depending on the use case). • Europe stands to benefit the most from implementing
digital solutions due to their higher energy costs. Nevertheless, all regions and building stock show significant potential and attractiveness.
The International Energy Agency estimates a potential of 0.35GtCO2
/y.
• Digital solutions are generally underestimated. /y abatement for digital solutions by 2050 based
solely on direct emissions. However, our analysis accounts for carbon abatement from electricity generation which brings the estimate to a potential of around 1GtCO2
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