A building that wastes energy costs more to run, delivers poorer comfort, and makes it harder to hit net-zero goals. With around 40% of total energy use and 36% of CO₂ emissions in the UK and EU coming from buildings1, Improving performance is one of the fastest, lowest-risk ways to cut carbon and operating costs. Yet roughly 75% of buildings remain energy inefficient1, even though smart control strategies alone can unlock 35–40% energy savings without major capital expenditure2.
Greater Manchester Success Stories
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This doesn’t just apply to new builds: 80% of the buildings that will be in use in 2050, have already been built3, yet typically, only 0.4%-1.2% of building stock is renovated each year1 (depending on the country).
ISO 52120
This Standard2 is specifically designed to review BMS performance and strategy, and the influence it has on a building’s energy consumption by comparing a building's BMS against the best practices as described in the Standard. It was created by the European (CEN TC 247) committee and has been independently verified by the Technical University of Dresden. Like the energy efficiency rating on your refrigerator, this standard divides BMS systems into efficiency classes, in this case from A to D.
Energy efficiency Class C is the baseline for buildings with a BMS. Buildings in which the BMS is not operating efficiently, or buildings without BMS, are rated as Class D and typically use 50% more energy than those with a Class C rating.
Extensive research has shown that moving from a simple time-based strategy (Class C) to a demand-led (Class A) strategy can result in significant energy and carbon reduction, depending on the building type.
To small for a BMS? Think Again!
SSE Smart Connect™ is SSE’s new plug-and-play building management system that unlocks energy savings in 75% of UK buildings previously considered too small for a control system to be cost-effective.
It provides an off-the-shelf, wireless solution to monitor and control building systems such as heating, lighting, and other equipment in schools, community centres, retail units, hospitality venues and similar small-to-medium-sized buildings.
By using LoRaWAN® technology to allow sensors and actuators to communicate with a 4G-connected control hub, Smart Connect delivers powerful building automation with minimal installation and remote management – no complex engineering or dedicated sales process is required.
1 https://commission.europa.eu/news-and-media/news/new-rules-greener-and-smarter-buildings-will-increase-quality-life-all-europeans-2019-04-15_en 2 https://www.iso.org/standard/65883.html (Paywalled) 3 https://www.weforum.org/stories/2022/11/net-zero-cities-retrofit-older-buildings-cop27/ 4 https://docs.nrel.gov/docs/fy22osti/82750.pdf
