Page 27 - European Energy Innovation - autumn 2019 publication
P. 27
Autumn 2019 European Energy Innovation 27
DIGITLISATION
Fig 1: Examples of digital technologies that when combined, can have an impact on energy efficiency.
IEA (2019). All rights reserved
when offices are unoccupied. lighting, heating and cooling, and efficiency and implications for policy
The i-BEMS also allows for two- water heating, but also to unlock makers. We are looking at how digital
way communication with the grid, distributed sources of flexible load, technologies enable greater control,
providing flexible load that can be generation and storage. optimisation and analytics, and how
sold to the grid operator, creating an this in turn enables greater end-use
additional revenue stream for the As a result, digital technologies and system efficiency, especially
building manager and helping can increase the efficiency of the when combined with the right
to increase the penetration of entire energy system by reducing policy frameworks and innovative
variable renewables into the the need for expensive energy- business models.
electricity system. intensive sources of power to cater
for peaks in demand, reducing energy In June, we launched a digitalisation
The impacts of such systems can be transmission and distribution losses, resource library at www.iea.org/efficiency
significant, with some commercial and helping bring more renewables and in late October, we will publish
buildings reporting energy cost into the generation mix. our flagship tracker of energy
savings and revenue generation efficiency trends, Energy Efficiency
equivalent to more than 10% of By joining up end-use energy 2019. This year’s report contains
annual on-site energy costs and GHG efficiency with distributed flexible a range of digital technology case
emissions reductions of up to 40% load, generation and storage, studies and a set of policy principles
thanks to load shifting and energy digitalisation is helping to redefine the for energy policy makers that
efficiency improvements. term ‘energy efficiency’ to encompass want to increase the use of digital
both end-use and system efficiency. technologies for energy efficiency.
Digitalisation can improve both
end-use and system efficiency The IEA’s work on digitalisation and As digitalisation transforms energy
The example of the smart office energy efficiency efficiency and the broader energy
shows the power of digital The IEA has launched a cross-agency system, the IEA will continue to
technologies to improve the initiative to explore the potential support energy policy makers around
efficiency of energy end-uses like impacts of digitalisation on energy the world to harness its benefits. l
www.europeanenergyinnovation.eu
