Page 40 - European Energy Innovation - Winter 2015 publication
P. 40
Winter 2015 European Energy Innovation

COMMUNICATION

Supporting energy use optimisation in public

,bt is known that buildings are responsible for 40% of the plans and implement an overall more responsive, smarter, 2
European Union’s (EU) energy consumption and 36% of sustainable action plan for energy use, for their buildings
its CO2 emissions. What is perhaps less known is that by and venues.
simply monitoring energy use in buildings at least 10%
can be saved, without changing the existing infrastructure. We aim to support local authorities in reducing building
And further savings can be made through improved energy energy consumption and carbon emissions, save money
data management and real-time monitoring systems. The FP7 and make sure that we have the right technology in place to
project OPTIMUS builds on this basis by working together achieve the best possible results.”
with three local authorities to develop an innovative, free
and easy-to-use Decision Support System (DSS) to optimise The three cities will be piloting the OPTIMUS DSS from
energy use in our public buildings. December 2015 until September 2016.

As permanent bodies that plan for the long term, towns 1) SAVONA
and cities are uniquely placed in helping to achieve the Pilot building: Colombo Pertini junior high school
EU Climate & Energy objectives and the transition to more • Construction year: 1957
sustainable urban environments. The Covenant of Mayors • Floor space: roughly 6.092 m2
(CoM) initiative illustrates impressively the potential and • Energy consumption: 59.222 kWh/year/53.118 cbm/year
commitment towards ambitious, local climate action and
achieving the EU 2020 targets on reducing greenhouse gas 2) ZAANSTAD
Pilot buildings: Zaanstad town hall and theatre
HPLVVLRQVDQGLQFUHDVLQJHQHUJ\HIƓFLHQF\ • Construction year: 2011
• Floor space: roughly 18.531 m2
As such, three cities and CoM Signatories: Savona, Sant • Energy consumption: 221 kWh/m2 per year
Cugat and Zaanstad have been working closely together
with a team of researchers, to develop the OPTIMUS DSS 3) SANT CUGAT
to enable municipal energy managers identify the best Pilot buildings: Sant Cugat town hall and theatre
ways to improve energy use in the buildings they monitor • Construction year: 2007
and manage. The OPTIMUS DSS is able to produce action • Floor space: roughly 8500 m2
plans for building managers to implement by capturing and • Energy consumption: 126 kWh/m2 per year
analysing data that range from weather monitoring, building
1
sensors, and energy prices,
to local renewable energy
production and occupant
feedback regarding thermal
comfort.

Prof. Haris Doukas (left) from the
National Technical University of
Athens (OPTIMUS Coordinator)
says “Managing a city’s
ecosystem of data offers huge
potential to better assess the
energy savings in buildings. By
combining real-time data in an
integrated way, the OPTIMUS
DSS will enable local authorities
to produce short-term energy

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