Many citizens and companies do not know that a large part of the energy consumed worldwide, 40%, is consumed in the residential and commercial building sector, said Andreea Ghincea, Product Sales Specialist Motion – HVAC, ABB.
“It is surprising to many. Everyone wants the quickest payback, but many forget to consider the cost of maintenance or replacement of certain equipment. Ageing equipment consumes more and so its efficiency decreases,” said Ghincea, at the conference “Digitalization and Energy Efficiency – Cluj-Napoca” organised by Energynomics and the Italian Chamber of Commerce for Romania – CCIpR.
Additionally, 85% of building emissions occur during the operational phase (the remaining 15% comes from the construction and demolition phases), and a sizable portion of a building’s energy consumption goes toward heating and cooling, so increasing energy efficiency is crucial.
HVAC consumption represents, on average, 50% of the energy consumed by buildings.
At group level, ABB has set a target that by 2030 all energy used will be produced from renewable sources and that the entire car fleet will be electric.
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Prevention is the best solution, but mandatory inspections are often ignored. Certain equipment that affects the building’s CO2 emissions needs to be checked frequently according to environmental standards. HVAC systems, for example, need to be checked every five years. An energy audit is also needed to identify the biggest energy consumers in a building, she continued.
Other measures that help in the process of making a building more energy efficient include preventative maintenance and the use of recommended maintenance kits to ensure equipment is working properly and in good condition, the implementation of a centralised and automated control system and the use of sensors to detect whether areas of an office are in use, and automatically turning off lights or HVAC systems when they are not needed.
The conference “Digitalization and Energy Efficiency – Cluj-Napoca” was organised by Energynomics and the Italian Chamber of Commerce for Romania – CCIpR, with the support of our partners: ADC, ABB, BCR, CRC Energy, Datacor, Eaton Electric, Elektra Renewable Support, EnergoBit, Exim Banca Românească, Fortza Solar, MET Energy Romania, Polytrade Global, Nofar, WALDEVAR Energy.