Kamstrup - Boosting the energy efficiency of buildings

 

By Steen Schelle Jensen, Head of Product Management, Kamstrup
Winter 2016


Almost half of Europe's energy consumption goes to buildings, many of which are supplied by inefficient individual oil or gas boilers. As a result, they represent an unparalleled potential for energy savings. Improving the energy efficiency of buildings is a multi-phased process that begins with connecting more buildings to a district heating system based on waste heat and renewables.

Today, buildings are responsible for 40% of energy consumption in the EU – not to mention more than a third of CO2 emissions. As a first step, connecting more buildings to a district heating system would mean getting rid of inefficient individual boilers and allow utilities to supply the buildings with more clean and sustainable energy sources.

OPTIMISING EXISTING BUILDING STOCK
The energy performance of individual buildings varies significantly not least due to their age. About 35% of EU buildings are over 50 years old and were built with little or no attention to energy efficiency. With frequent data from smart meters, utilities gain detailed insight into how different buildings perform, which allows them to target their efforts.

The next step is, therefore, to look closer at the buildings that consume the most energy and uncover their potential within three main areas: substation efficiency, building envelope performance and end-user behaviour.

MONITORING SUBSTATIONS
An energy efficient heat supply is dependent on wellfunctioning buildings and low return temperatures in the district heating network. However, Swedish research has shown that 75% of all substations are misadjusted. Hourly values from smart meters allow utilities to monitor the performance of substations and quickly identify errors or opportunities for improvement.

PERFORMANCE OPTIMISATION
Data-based knowledge about how individual buildings perform under different wind and weather conditions enables utilities to continuously make informed decisions about their energy production and distribution. It also allows them to evaluate the building characteristics to determine when and how to push for renovating buildings in the most efficient way.

INVOLVING END USERS
Energy consumption and peak demands are still closely connected to end-user behaviour and so, when comparing identical buildings, energy consumption will differ significantly. Smart metering coupled with advanced data analytics enable utilities to provide targeted energy advice to individual consumers. Also, visualisation tools already available today allow end users to follow their consumption by the hour and to benchmark how they compare to other end users with similar profiles.

ENERGY STORAGE IN BUILDINGS
Today and in the future, buildings are a key factor in the energy efficiency equation – and technological advances continue to present new opportunities. For example, as the energy efficiency of buildings increases so does their potential as energy storage. Storage-in-buildings (SIB) – both deep storage in the structural core e.g. in walls, and shallow storage in gypsum etc. improves heat load shifting without reducing thermal comfort or requiring new constructions. The result is a higher quality of the energy mix enhancing the integration of renewables in the district heating system, which is the very prerequisite for the energy efficient heat supply.

 

 

Learn more at kamstrup.com