The biggest potential for reducing energy consumption and costs was identified at the building level. For now, however, in Romania, the offices and commercial markets are the only ones in which there interest, understanding and financial possibilities are all met in order to support investments in this direction. Residential blocks of flats and residential spaces owned by central public authorities constitute a huge segment, not yet connected to the trends and opportunities offered by modern technology. Experts from Schneider Electric, ATALIAN and ANRE have stimulated the debates in the latest Energy Breakfast Club, held on Thursday, April 20, at Cesianu Racovita Palace in Bucharest.

This year, Schneider Electric Romania celebrates its 20th aniversary, while Schneider products are becoming more and more present, globally, in a strong development for providing solutions to the trends and challenges of the current period. Connectivity is one of the key words for some years, but there are three megatrends that can already be identified: urbanization, digitization, industrialization.

EcoStruxture – Innovation from Schneider Electric

The energy efficiency potential is huge, according to the estimates presented by the Schneider Electric representative: at the industrial level, about 58% of the potential is not taped yet. At infrastructure level, the share is 79%, and it ups to 82% in the buildings sector. “Residential, office buildings and data centers have entered more recently in Schneider’s area of interest, but we already have examples of excellent results in recent years,” said Răzvan Copoiu. Industrial Internet of Things have made it possible to build and equip the The Edge building in Amsterdam, which has achieved the best ever BREEM rating – 98.33%. “It is the most energy-efficient building in the world,” said Răzvan Copoiu.

DOWNLOAD THE PRESENTATION OF RĂZVAN COPOIU

“EcoStruxture is the word that I encourage you to remember because it is the concept that integrates the solutions and expertise of a global company with a turnover of nearly € 25 billion and about 140,000 employees in more than 100 countries. EcoStruxture allows the products to be connected, the finest control and the transfer of information into applications, analytical solutions and management services,” explained Răzvan Copoiu.

ATALIAN solution: Energy savings guaranteed by contract

Facility management services are most often taken by granted with the building and they are rarely seen as value-added services, said Andrei Postelnicu, Director of Sales and Business Development at ATALIAN Romania. “Facility management is the unseen people and companies who take care for the building once it is commissioned in order to maximize the value of the investment mae by the person who built or who owns the building.” From this perspective, facility management service providers have to come up with new solutions, the energy management of the building included.

Ergelis solution from ATALIAN can be appled to any type of building – new or already in use, whether it has a building management system in place or not. “Ergelis is a tool which allows for remote monitoring and control of the equipment in the building in order to get real-time and automated optimization of consumption,” Postelnicu explained. In addition, each building has its own energy manager who can intervene when the situation ask for it. The ATALIAN representative presented a case study – the Allianz building in Paris, La Defense, where 600 energy alerts were monitored over a three-year period; the energy manager’s intervention was required each time.

Ergelis solution could have a cost from 40-50 thousand euros, to 150 thousand euros, depending on the building’s characteristics.

DOWNLOAD THE PRESENTATION OF ANDREI POSTELNICU

From a financial point of view, ATALIAN proposes two options: the initial investment is made by the beneficiary or a monthly payment (subscription) from the beneficiary, with the initial investment being covered by ATALIAN. In any case, the return of investment is less than 3 years, and energy savings (between 10% and 20%) are guaranteed in the contract. “With old buildings with no BMS, the savings obtained can be very spectacular,” Postelnicu pointed out. The case studies presented show that savings obtained in eight buildings in France ranged from 1.6 to 7.7 euros per square meter in one year – on average, the economy is 2 euros per square meter in one year.

Distant targets in the energetic rehabilitation of building

In his intervention, Corneliu Rădulescu, director of the Energy Efficiency Directorate within ANRE, stressed that the macro indicators and the main benchmarks in relation to the European Commission look good. Romania is comfortable on its path of meeting the energy efficiency targets, mainly because its gross domestic product has increased in the last few years, while the primary energy consumption declined sharply. Changes in Romanian economic structure and, partly, investments made in the industrial sector for increased energy efficiency are responsible for this development.

On the other hand, the current status with buildings is much less satisfactory. “We are in the process of elaborating / finalizing the two reports to be sent to the European Commission – the program report and the monitoring report on the National Energy Efficiency Action Plan,” Radulescu stressed. “The materials from the Ministry of Regional Development, Public Administration and European Funds should be ready in a few days, and then we will know more clearly what happened in 2016 with the buildings owned by the central public authorities and with the blocks of flats.” Romania has the oblgation to rehabilitate 3% of the total area of buildings owned by central public authorities each year, and there is little chance of finding significant achievements from this point of view. “We succeeded in avoiding at the last moment an infringement on the transposition of the European directive, but I am afraid that we will face an even greater risk in regard to the implementation of this directive,” Radulescu warned.

The ANRE official insisted on the need to educate the general public, starting with kids in the primary school, on energy efficiency themes and the basic measures we have at our disposal.

DOWNLOAD THE PRESENTATION OF CORNELIU RĂDULESCU

Over 60 representatives from #better, Advantage Austria, AIIR, UTCB, ANRE, AOAR, APMCR, Atalian, ATREA, Beia Consult International, BOGART, CBRE, Centrul Energie, DOX, Electrica Furnizare, Elsaco Brunata, EPG, ESCOROM, Exe Green Holding, Flash Group, Forumul Inventatorilor Români, Grundfos, Inform Design SRL-D, Jereh, Kerui Group, KimoServ SRL, Lisscom Brasov, MET, Ministerul Dezvoltării Regionale, Administraţiei Publice şi Fondurilor Europene, Phoenix Contact, Popa P. Ion – auditor energetic pentru clădiri, Power Electric, Promaco Property Management, ROGBC, România Actualităţi, Schneider Electric România, SE-GES, Siemens, Skanska, Suite Home, TEB Energy Business, Termo Service 2000, TGA Clima Proiect, TimePal România, Unilever, Universitatea “Vasile Alecsandri” din Bacău, Util Apa Proiect SRL attended the presentations and participated in discussions.

The event was organized by energynomics.ro and supported by our partners: Schneider Electric România, Atalian şi ATREA.

Participation

This year, energynomics.ro aims to organize at least 10 Energy Breakfast Club meetings. The schedule and the proposed themes for 2017 are available in the Energy Breakfast Club dedicated page.