By Yasser Ahmed, Business Development Director – IoT & Digital for the Middle East and Africa

With the world’s population expected to reach nine billion within 20 years, the demand for energy is continually increasing. And this could have tremendous consequences for our global climate. If we truly want to tackle climate change, it makes sense to turn our attention to the biggest contributors of carbon emissions. And we have to start with buildings.

Buildings account for almost a third of the world’s CO2 emissions by source, a number that rises to almost 40% when factoring in construction. In the developing world, residential homes will soon become the largest single source of greenhouse gas emissions, according to according to a report published in PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences).

The solution is to build new buildings better from the outset, and to retrofit existing ones so they become more energy efficient. Schneider Electric has found that 82% of the potential means to reduce energy waste in buildings alone remains untapped. It has calculated that if we reduce energy consumption in just half of the world’s existing buildings by between 30-50%, and continue to electrify and decarbonise energy sources, we could halve global emissions by 2040. Positive change won’t be possible without raising some of the existing standards and regulations, accelerating their adoption, raising the bar.

The prevalence of green buildings is growing across the world, encouraged and frequently even required by both client demand and government policies. In the UAE, there are clearly specified targets that support sustainable development including the reduction of energy and water consumption in Dubai by 30% and increasing the share of solar in the energy mix to 25% – both by 2030. Dubai also has a Clean Energy Strategy to achieve 75% clean energy by 2050. Across the UAE, green targets include 50% clean energy in the total energy mix by 2050, and treatment of 75% waste by 2021.

With such clear guidelines in place, the UAE’s real estate industry has increased its focus on sustainable buildings to comply with the current green building regulations in the UAE such as Abu Dhabi’s Estidama Pearl Rating System and the Dubai Green Building Regulations.

Large developers have begun to focus on the energy performance of their buildings through energy benchmarking of their properties, identifying best practices and developing strategies to increase the efficiency of the built environment.

But we’re only at the start of the building efficiency story. Building owners and facility managers are facing increasing pressure to reduce their energy consumption, partly from national and local governments who are adopting more stringent sustainable energy policies and also from customers who are demanding lower energy costs. Regulations in some countries will even require by 2025—and in some cases by 2020—that all new buildings are energy neutral or even positive, which means that the building will have to produce at least as much energy through on-site renewables as is consumed.

Incorporating renewable energy

To become neutral or positive with regards to energy, it is essential to integrate clean, local energy sources. Renewable technologies such as solar microgrids, which are commercially available today, can completely cover the consumption needs of buildings.

Another important element of designing, constructing and managing green buildings is using control and optimization solutions that play an important role in improving the way energy is produced, consumed and stored.

A first layer of control, called the Energy Management System (EMS), is key. Usually cloud based, these systems are able to forecast and optimize energy usage, leveraging on-site distributed energy resources to reduce energy bills and better integrate renewables. In addition to an EMS, a Power Management System can be used to operate the system on-site.

This is what the digital transformation of energy management and automation is all about: empowering building managers to make the best decisions about energy procurement and risk management; more accurately tracking energy performance through connected energy meters, sensors, HVAC equipment, and lighting systems; and streamlining maintenance to help facility managers make the most of their time.

Finally, these solutions are a part of a larger green building ecosystem that provides some of the most effective means to achieving a range of global goals, such as addressing climate change, creating sustainable and thriving communities, and driving economic growth. We can build greener, and we must promote technology to reduce energy usage across our homes, offices and buildings if we’re to reduce carbon emissions globally.