Build Up: What are the biggest barriers to implementing Smart technologies in the European Building stock? What is the EU doing at the policy level to overcome them?

Mirjam Harmelink: Firstly, the methods have mainly been realised on TRL2-4 and are therefore not yet applicable on a large scale in practice (TRL6). Where they are used, they are not yet fast and efficient enough to make buildings ’smarter’. Moreover, installing them in a specific installation is cumbersome and time-consuming because many data files must be manually searched and integrated. The associated time investment is a barrier to purchasing these types of systems. In addition, systems currently in use focus on simple data representation and leave a large part of the data interpretation to the user. A large part of the data is also unused, so the potential for energy savings and flexibility is not fully utilised. Finally, many methods, data sources and algorithms are not freely available (open source) but are behind paywalls.

Besides that, the techniques do not link up with processes in installation technology, building management, and facility management. Building managers are often unknown during development. Conversely, due to unfamiliarity with the possibilities, certain functionalities are not even requested. In the same way, energy companies focus on flexibility management. Still, they are not aware of the wishes of the building managers, with the result that the market for these systems remains small.

There is also a lack of interoperability and open data standards. Often several systems are installed in one building (e.g. a system from manufacturer 1 for the W installation, a system from manufacturer 2 for the lighting, a system from manufacturer 3 for indoor air quality, plus self-placed sensors with internal open data access). Every brand has its protocol, way of output/input and data platforms, on which different systems communicate with each other with difficulty or not at all.

“Systems currently in use focus on simple data representation

and leave a large part of the data interpretation to the user”

Another barrier is the difficult acceptance by end users. It has been known for some time that some degree of control by the end user is necessary to accept smart systems. The system and the end user must understand and accept each other. If the end user does not understand why something is happening (e.g., the sun protection is lowered automatically), there is a real risk that they will intervene, which can destroy the energy savings. On the other hand, not understanding why the end user intervenes (e.g., he wants more light or view at that moment) leads to unsuitable control algorithms. This also concerns energy flexibility; most installations (e.g., ventilation, sun protection) in non-residential construction have a central basic control and a decentralised post-control system at room level.

Finally, I think the business models are unclear. On the one hand, there is a cautious development on the part of installation engineering consultancies, which in recent years have started to analyse data from building management systems to improve the functioning of installations. These agencies run into the problem that they are not data or machine learning specialists. On the other hand, many technological newcomers (startups) operate from data management, data analysis and artificial intelligence. Still, they have little understanding of installation technology and building design.

In this context, the EU is setting requirements for the smart readiness of buildings to help overcome (some) of these barriers.

BUP: As Project Manager of Brain4Buildings Project (B4B), could you explain the project´s main goals and objectives?

MH: The objective of the B4B project is to add operational intelligence to buildings to realise the transition to energy efficiency and flexibility. Buildings need ‘brains’ to respond to user behaviour, and to enable self-diagnosis and self-optimisation. We aim to develop scalable and modular solutions that save 20-30% of energy. The market value is largely due to the impact of these ‘brains’ on energy bills, operating and maintenance costs, and ease of use. B4B focuses on the development of control and control systems for non-residential buildings that smartly aim for (1) reduction of energy waste, reduction of CO₂ emissions, increased use of local resources, unlocking adjustable energy flexibility and reduction of maintenance costs that (2) take user behaviour into account and ensure the comfort, health and well-being of users. It also focuses on testing and validating open-source prototypes (living labs, use cases) to clarify market value for companies, building owners and facility managers.

BUP: B4B project aims to make buildings more energy efficient by giving them a ‘brain’. What implications would this proposed implementation have for the building itself and its users?

MH: See objectives. The ultimate objective is that the building will become more energy efficient and can play an active role in the energy systems, and the user experiences a more comfortable building.

BUP: Within the B4B project, the consortium will test and validate methods and algorithms. Could you explain the role of living labs and the concept of open innovation?

MH: Open living labs - large utility buildings equipped with a building management system (BMS)- are used for the small-scale testing of innovative products (proofs-of-concept) developed in the project. The selected living labs represent a large part of office and educational buildings in the Netherlands. The open living labs have resources and conditions (e.g., systematic /structured overview of historical building data from the GBS, possibility to introduce faults in HVAC installations) to quickly start prototyping, testing and evaluating data-driven models and testing user interfaces. The resulting methods and products (prototyping algorithms, software plug-ins) become available as ‘open source’. This means that all consortium partners and other market parties can use this for further application and development of their products. Due to the high development costs associated with the software, it is in the market's interest to work from an industry-wide approach and to make open-source results public. The open-source results are validated by several consortium partners for scale-up potential in use cases. This means that results from the first circle are validated by consortium partners in test environments for their potential for scaling up.

“The resulting methods and products become available as ‘open source’,

and can be used by all consortium partners and other market parties

for further application and development of their products”

BUP: How does the project expect to manage the resulting building data?  How important is this step in the foreseen smartness of the building?

MH: Managing data is key to realising the objectives of this project. On the one hand, this relates to the current lack of interoperability and open data standards for the building, which hampers the upscaling of smart building solutions. On the other hand, data privacy and security are important issues which have been given little thought so far and that we will investigate further in the B4B project.

BUP: How do you ensure the knowledge gained within the project is shared and disseminated?

MH: Due to the high development costs for software development, the market is interested in an industry-wide research approach and making results open source. In this way, the cost of bringing such algorithms into the application can be reduced, increasing the likelihood of wide market adoption. Therefore, within the project we sought cooperation with knowledge institutions, installation companies, energy consultancies, platform/interface developers, building owners and managers, technology suppliers, industry associations and other subject matter experts. In total 39 participated in the project, and because the parties meet every six months, this already leads to extensive sharing of knowledge and expertise. Besides, we are working on a learning community around ‘smart buildings’ that includes monthly webinars and the establishing of an education platform.