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28  Summer 2019 European Energy Innovation

    SMART BUILDINGS

Smart Buildings:
the silent champions of the
clean energy transition

By Frauke Thies (pictured), Executive Director, smartEn – the European association for smart
energy solutions

                                        live and work in: from energy users       appliances and devices, such as
                                        with little relation to the energy grids  heating/cooling, lighting, ventilation,
                                        and market realities, Smart Buildings     as well as possible dedicated storage
                                        are becoming a cornerstone of a           systems and on-site electricity
                                        clean energy system.                      generation from renewable sources.
                                                                                  For example, if too much energy
                                        Smart Buildings as a solution, can        is available in the grid, the energy
                                        help to balance the energy grid,          management system self-activates
                                        create comfort and savings for            to charge electric vehicles or activate
                                        consumers and prosumers, empower          the heating system to store energy
                                        them to participate in the market and     for later use.
                                        save energy while decarbonizing the
                                        energy system.                            If energy is needed elsewhere,
                                                                                  smart buildings automatically feed
Today’s energy world is                 Smart Building Technology                 stored energy or energy from on-site
            a dynamic, emergent         Think of Smart Buildings as               renewables like photovoltaics back
            landscape, marked by        conductors of an orchestra: they          into the grid. Smart Buildings thus
            decentralised players, and  direct the roles of each instrument       match the needs of the building’s
variable energy sources that raise      and encourage all players to give their   occupants with the needs of the rest
the challenge of efficiently matching   best, while ensuring a harmonious         of the electricity system.
demand and supply. This reality also    symphony.
puts a new focus on the buildings we                                              This optimisation is achieved by
                                        Enabled by a smart energy                 reacting to price signals, or by offering
                                        management system, Smart Buildings        the Smart Building’s flexibility to an
                                        decide how to best use energy by          aggregator (to achieve larger scales
                                        communicating with their various          and increased reliability from pooling),
                                                                                  that can offer residual energy to other
    As Smart Buildings                                                            markets. As EU markets open further
                                                                                  to flexibility, added revenue streams
                                                                                  for buildings will appear.

         increasingly interact with                                               Speedy transition to unleash Smart
the energy system they can take                                                   Building potential
up a significant role in                                                          As Smart Buildings increasingly
system flexibility.                                                               interact with the energy system
                                                                                  they can take up a significant role
                                                                                  in system flexibility. The good
                                                                                  news is that homes which use
                                                                                  digitally controlled lighting, heating,
                                                                                  ventilation, air conditioning, security
                                                                                  and home appliances are set to
                                                                                  increase from 8.5 million in 2016 to

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