Buildings Sector

The building we live, work and shop in have a role to play in reaching net zero. The buildings sector needs to reduce its carbon emissions by 5.1 gigatonnes by 2030 if it is to meet net zero by 2050. Investment in the digital infrastructure to make buildings smart such as smart meters at home and in commercial premises (electricity and gas) and integrated heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems could enable a reduction of 2.2 gigatonnes. That’s 43% of the reduction required just though smart technology.

The majority of smart building design and retrofits is in major cities in the UK, US, Dubai and China. This needs to expand rapidly and falling costs should spur adoption more widely alongside construction regulations incorporating energy efficiency guidelines.

Residential premises have the largest scope for efficiency gains given the declining cost of smart meters, retail energy provider subsidies, and government requirements mandating installations over the next decade, especially in Europe.

The benefits come from a range of systems, including:

Residential smart electric meters track energy usage in real time, which customers can monitor helping them understand where energy is used and wasted
Commercial smart meters for electricity and gas can use artificial intelligence to analyse real time data streams and automatically modify electricity and gas use based on occupancy, ambient external temperatures and weather events
HVAC systems monitor and regulate temperatures in larger buildings and some transport settings. They can draw on artificial intelligence to run analytics and modify temperature in real time, and reuse cool external air without drawing electricity