‘Or from how to cultivate the energy consciousness of the tomorrow’s citizens through the education of today’s children’
Working in a technological centre where is made R & D & i is far from being the case of living in a futuristic bubble far away from the reality that is lived at grassroots level. On the contrary what we have in our handsday by day are challenges that any of us could meet. In my case, as a researcher working on issues of energy efficiency and sustainability, that is more than evident.
As you may have already seen in previous posts of my colleagues if you’re a regular reader of this blog, in the energy area we work on numerous projects that address energy efficiency in different fields and at different scales. We approach the problem from building level to city level, going through community and district or neighbourhood scales. These projects have a multitude of more or less complex technical implications that we analyse from different perspectives and profiles (architecture, engineering, computer science or telecommunications among others) seeking the optimal solutionsforeach case, but as would Ende, that is another story and shall be told another time.
Today I want to focus my attention on a necessary pillar to achieve efficiency and sustainability that is not a technical one: the user, the neighbour, the citizen. In short, people. You and me that after all are the ones who make things work as they do. As we have seen through the results of the DIRECTION project, in which they were built two buildings of very low energy consumption in Valladolid and Munich, the behaviour of users of buildings and their awareness have a great influence on the consumption and comfort final values.
Although there is an increasingly widespread awareness on energy and sustainability, in many cases it remains somewhat generic and fails to lead to changes in our habits. As my colleague Ana Quijano commented in his post, a key element is to ensure that the actions at a certain scale are profitable. This is certainly true in general terms, but in day to day life something more is needed. Social acceptance is an aspect that affects more than we might think. It is necessary that each of us become aware of our effect of our ability to act when it comes to getting energy savings and of our responsibility. For this to be so, it is necessary knowledge, mainly about the possibilities each one can have, and of course education. At this point it is when it starts to make sense the title of this post.
If the awareness of each of us as today’s individuals is essential, educating those who will be tomorrow’s citizens it is crucial. Only in this way it will be possible to find a way out of the energy and environmental crossroad where we have placed our planet. For those like me who have already reached a certain age, to act accordingly to energy consciousness might require changes in our traditional habits, and that’s not always easy to assimilate. It would have been simpler if we had them assimilated from childhood as normal, and this is where we can influence to improve the future from the present, through the education of children. The importance of teaching children in energy efficiency and energy and natural resources saving, lies not only in the transmission of adequate personal and social values, but in that they can assimilate as their own some behaviours that most adults have had to acquire belatedly, if we have done it.
There are increasingly more initiatives in this line in which the smallest of the house are the focus of attention. In schools, camps and other activities are routinely included resources relating to recycling and the reduction of the use of natural resources and their efficient use. How the energy is produced, transformed and used, as well as the consequences of each step are already part of the curricular itinerary. Recently, our colleague Laura López was speaking us in her post about an event organized by CARTIF in collaboration with the Municipality of Valladolid with the aim of raising awareness to children about recycling, specifically about the plastic named expanded polystyrene (EPS). Such initiatives are very important in strengthening on the education of children their awareness and responsibility. However, as a mother, I cannot fail to recognize that in this matter (as in many others) education at home is essential even more through the example. Our children reflect on their habits what they see in us, what they live every day, so we must strive to also (and especially) at home act with environmental and energy consciousness.
To achieve energy savings we can basically act in two ways, through solutions to reduce demand or consumption, or through energy efficiency solutions. Or to put it another way, spending less and spending better. It is no longer difficult to reduce the amount of energy we use by choosing devices and services of low or lower consumption and avoiding the waste of energy (holding lighted only the necessary lights, completely turning off electronic devices in the home, adjusting thermostats to suitable temperatures …).
Although it can seem difficult to see, children can also help us in these tasks. What might be more complex for us is to convince ourselves that such actions should not be a sort of imposition of our times but rather that saving energy is beneficial to us, both as individuals and as a society. Beyond the potential economic savings, reducing the general pollution with its consequent health benefits and reducing emissions of greenhouse gases that helps reducing the effects of climate change are positive consequences for all derived from individual appropriate attitudes and behaviour.
Among all and for the common good, we must help our children to take responsibility and behave in a critical way and have energy and environmental consciousness, to make it real that they are the kind of citizen of the future “our” planet needs. Particularly as a researcher in energy efficiency and sustainability, as a citizen who aspires to be part of a conscious and committed to energy efficiency and environmental protection society, and as a mother of a little citizen, I hope so.
More than 40% of the residential buildings in Europe are older than 50 years and subsequently they have a large potential for energy savings. The European Commission is aware of the need of a renovation work as well as the benefits that this activity can bring to the economy; hence, it designs strategies that help to reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions to the atmosphere while being able to create new jobs. It is not easy to report an exact number of the benefit associated to this type of initiative given the estimations differ among reports. As reference, here it is provided the annual jobs quantified in the Strategy for Energy Retrofitting Building Sector in Spain that estimated the creation of around 97,000 and 141,000 new jobs between 2014 and 2020.
However, despite the great advantages of this sector, the beginning of a energy efficient solutions project is not simple because of non-technological barriers (Table: BPIE 2011: Europe’s building under the microscope). This explains why annual energy efficient solutions rate is around 1% in most European countries. The high investment cost and the access to finance due to a lack of long term credit from banks are undoubtedly one of the most important barriers which are related to a lack of knowledge and risk perception towards this type of action. Also, many of people who live in this type of households have limited resources and cannot afford such expensive renovations.
On the other hand, accompanying these economic barriers, there is often a lack of interest towards this investment option since the reduction of energy bills and the impact on the property value as a result of the energy efficiency measures are not very relevant aspects to involve the building owners. Nor a better thermal comfort helps to the making decision process when the payback is not imminent. Concerning the legal framework, it should be mentioned that despite the development of regulations that favor energy efficiency in buildings, there are many obstacles in this field to overcome since nowadays the regulatory framework is dispersed and is managed by several administration.
In the case of Spain, the situation is nowadays complicated after the crisis experienced in the construction sector with a special reluctance of banks to lend loans to construction companies. On the other hand, financial institutions force to housing owners to endorse their dwelling in order to solve the possible non-payment that may arise within the community of neighbors. Therefore the rehabilitation of a building or district depends in many cases on the economic capacity for companies to invest as well as the public funding. Also, it has to be mentioned that the regulation is against renewable energy and the self-consumption which is also restrained the advance of energy renovation of districts.
Given this scenario, the only way for the renovation of the buildings is to achieve a short-term payback, being currently this one of the biggest challenges since it is needed to identify the most suitable business model and financial scheme for each type of property, housing and society. Furthermore, it is required to boost the benefits of these initiatives through information campaigns.
Six more aspects to know everything about Energy Performance Certificates
Even though at first sight Energy Performance Certificates required nowadays when selling or renting a property might seem a burden for the owner; they are a huge source of information for the future property tenant or buyer. When choosing a new residence or premise for rent or sale, its price, location or size should not only be what matters to us, but we should worry as well about its energy demand and, thus, the expense that it will generate in the future. If those topics matter to us when we buy a car or an electrical appliance, why shouldn’t they matter to us as well when talking about real state with a much higher repercussion?
What is it?
The Energy Performance Certificate is a report written by an accredited person, which entails a global rating of our property based on the carbon dioxide emissions that we are producing through heating, domestic hot water, cooling and lighting. Moreover, it also provides us with the energy demand coming from heating and cooling and primary energy consumption. At the end of the certificate a series of recommendations are offered to us in order to improve our rating and, therefore, save in our invoices.
What does the energy rating mean?
The rating obtained is organised in a scale that ranges from A (most efficient) to G (less efficient), which depends on our CO2 emissions. This scale is not proportional and, for example, the difference between an A and B rating is much lower than the one existing between an E and an F, as it can be seen in the picture.
How is it done?
An accredited person will visit the property and will gather information regarding windows, building envelope, energy systems, and hot water production system and, in case of business premises, information related to lighting. The data is introduced in a tool validated by the State (CEX, CE3X, HULC or CERMA in the case of Spain), where the certificate will be issued. Moreover, this certificate should include at least two recommendations about how to reduce energy.
What are the recommendations about how to reduce energy?
The energy certificate tool asks to introduce recommendations which can be classified into four categories: insulation, windows, thermal bridges and building systems. The accredited person will have to value, after having covered the previous steps, which are the best recommendations to offer in each case. This means carrying out an energy audit of our property, which provides us with highly valuable information to be able to implement an energy retrofit.
Dwelling certification vs certification at building level, what is mandatory?
Energy certificates can be done both for the complete building, as well as for individual business premises or dwellings. For buildings built less than 50 years ago it is not mandatory to issue a certificate at building level (except regional or local specification), therefore it is common practice that the owner requests this certificate whenever he or she has to rent or sell their property. However, it is worth noting that issuing the certificate at building level is less expensive than the individual ones.
If our building is more than 50 years old or we want to apply for a grant we will be asked to carry out the IEE (in Spanish – Informe de Evaluación del Edificio – a building assessment report) which specifies the conservation state of the building, the accordance to the accessibility regulation and its energy efficiency rating at building level. Certification at building level is compulsory either way for new buildings.
Shopping centres have been invented in the 1920’s in the United States and represent the modern version of a historical market place with their collection of independent retail stores, services, and parking area.
Over the whole of Europe there are thousands of retail outlets standing for almost 30% of the non-residential building stock, varying among other criteria in their functions, forms and sizes. Currently, more than 6 million companies are acting in the retail sector while around 30 million Europeans works in commerce.
New types of shopping centres emerge which meet public and retail needs, but the new types do not replace existing shopping formats, they instead add to the range of shopping facilities which already exist.
According to the International Council for Shopping centres (ICSC), a shopping centre is a scheme that is planned, built and managed as a single entity, comprising units and communal areas, with a minimum gross leasable area (GLA) of 5,000 square meters.
Shopping centres are sometimes perceived as icons of a consumerist society, because of their high energy demand, high CO2 emissions and waste. Therefore sustainability of the retail sector may significantly contribute to reach the long-term environmental and energy goals of the EU. Shopping centres are of particular interest due to their structural complexity, due to the high potential of energy savings and carbon emissions reduction, as well as due to their importance and influence in shopping tendencies and lifestyle.
While in the residential buildings, energy is mainly consumed by heating, domestic hot water and appliances, in the shopping centres, energy is used in a variety of ways, store lighting, ventilation, heating and air-conditioning, food refrigeration and others. However, the composition of the energy consumption varies from one retailer to another. Non-food retailers, have a different share of energy use compared to food retailers. For example, the electricity consumption of appliances in electronics stores is higher than in other kind of shops, which are more dependent on lighting, such as furniture or clothes shops.
The majority of European shopping centres are already built, but there is a still huge potential for energy savings, offering the possibility in many aspects to improve the technical systems, such as lighting and ventilation, or the building envelope, and monitoring systems. There are, however a number of major barriers to achieve the desired energy reductions and not all of these may be solved by the installation of new technical solutions. Pleasing customers is of primary importance in shopping centres, because customers provide the necessary profits, however customers are not demanding directly energy uses reductions in shopping centres, but demand among other things variety of products and low prices, access by public transport, parking and good location. Nevertheless, customer environmental awareness is increasing, which it is a very important factor to have the approval of the actions associated with energy efficiency by the customers and thus be a more positive factor when choosing where to shop.
There is currently a wide variety of conventional and innovative technologies and energy management systems, with which to renovate the shopping centres from an energy point of view. Thanks to this type of actions, a reduction in the energy consumption of the shopping centres and their corresponding greenhouse gas emissions will be achieved. The Energy Division ofCARTIF, it is currently working on projects aimed at improving energy consumption in buildings, among which are shopping centres (CommONEnergy project), public buildings (BRICKER project) and residential and tertiary sector buildings (INSPIRE project). Through energy modelling and simulation tools, energy audits, instrumentation and control advance strategies, analysis and detailed studies on the incorporation of renewable energies, and our experience of over 15 years, we are able to reduce the economic and environmental cost of energy generation.
In summary, energy sustainability in commercial buildings is not only necessary for the environment, but provides added value to the products offered to potential customers.
Water is the most abundant substance in the human body as much as on Earth and is also essential for the survival of all known forms of life.
And despite its importance, every day more voices warn of the dangerslooming on such a “precious element.” For example, the World Economic Forum met last January in Mount Davos (Switzerland) has placed the water crisis as the third overall risk over the next 18 months … and it will be the first risk to the world in a 10-year horizon.
Which are the causes that are positioning the water in this top ranking ahead of other potential problems such as oil or turf wars? Climate change, droughts, floods, population growth or demographic changes are some of the challenges around water. In addition, because of its close relation to agriculture, the idea of a “water war” breaking out in Africa, the Middle East or Asia is increasingly seen as a real possibility to the extent that these governments need to feed their populations.
To this long list of long-range dangers, today we want to draw your attention to a closest one: the lack of individual knowledge.
You certainly know the price of 1L of gasoline, but do you know what you pay for 1 L of water? First, you need to know that in Spain water supply is under municipal jurisdiction and each local authority sets its own prices and tariff structures. On average, in our country we pay 1.83 € per 1000 L of drinking water supplied to our households. Translated into usual domestic chores, a five-minute shower costs about 0.10 € and a bath about 0,55 €.
However, the key question is not what you pay for the drinking water, but what is the real cost to produceit and if this is a “fair and sustainable price” for the future.
Returning to the case of gasoline, in recent months we have witnessed a drastic fall in the price of crude. However, as consumers we have not benefited entirely from this drop as fuel is heavily taxed in our country (more than half of the final cost is linked to taxes).
Well, the water is at the opposite extreme, ie, it is heavily granted. While it is true that public money comes at the end from “the black box” of our taxes, there is a very important hint facing the taxpayer. It is difficult to value water if its real cost remains unknown and even when waste it goes so cheap. In the choice between taking a shower or a bath it is clear that today, the money does not come into the equation. And if you go for the more sustainable option probably it is because of the 100 L of water that you save when you do not fill the bathtub. But … what if the money began to count?
Apparently positive for the citizen, the situation is untenable and water will be, within a short period of time, a very high value resource that will need to be managed more efficiently.
In Spain, our supply networks are often obsolete and water losses due to leaks are incalculable. Would you be willing to pay a fair price for water if that would guarantee access to higher water quality and helps to improve infrastructure?
Knowing is the first step to value and informed citizens lead to a responsible society. As an example, a study sponsored by the Council of Almeria in 2002 detected the presence of natural radioactivity in the groundwater intended to supply the population. Furthermore, the existing water treatments at that time were not enough to provide water suitable for human consumption. Then, some municipalities launched information campaigns which sensitized population and a raise of the water price was approved. Thereby, new treatments installed allowed the access to a high quality drinking water.
In recent years, the average consumption of water per capita and day has decreased in our country. What you can keep doing? First, use common sense in your daily habits. Remember not to let the water run from faucets when not necessary, think about how you use the toilet if you have a dual flush mechanism, or if you use the washing and dishwasher machine with full loads etc. Also, when buying new appliances, consider criteria of water efficiency, or install aerators on faucets or shower heads to reduce the flow by 50%. If you are interested, you just can google it and read:
“It’s too late to be a pessimist”. In CARTIF we are seeking for solutions to current challenges and water is one of them. Sustainable use of water, removal of micro-pollutants (endocrine disruptors, trihalomethanes), water-energy nexus, water in the context of circular economy, are for us among the water challenges of this century. In future entries in this blog, we will be telling you our research in these lines.
Normally the idea that the average citizen has about the savings in the energy bill, depending on the equipment installed, is centred around the sacrifice of the personal welfare (lowering a bit the temperature at home in winter and rising in summer) or making important expenses (like solar panels) that are redeemed in a distant future and could generate something called, in economy terms, “loss of chance”, that can be translated as the money that could be used for some immediate pleasures.
Until not long ago the ways to effectively save were the same expressed beforehand, and it was clear that it could not do anything about with the exception of certain investments from the governments. However, some new tools have appeared recently that, through the means of technologies affordable and available for everyone, can reach the goal of saving money but without sacrificing comfort or making big expenses.
One of the solutions that is currently being developed is the so-called Building Energy Management Systems (acronym BEMS from now on). The BEMS makes use of software that gathers data from several origins (sensors, data bases, weather stations, timetables, polls and commands from users, etc.) and takes some decisions based on defined algorithms which adjust the behaviour of the equipment installed on the building to minimize the energy consumption but always keeping the marked comfort standards. In other words, the BEMS works like a butler who would be adjusting the home devices in order to create comfort optimizing the energy expenditure.
But what does the average user see about all this? Of course, although a user with large knowledge about building equipment and computing could install a simple BEMS, the truth is that the BEMS requires a large quantity of work:
The current commercial solutions require hiring technicians to set up the devices, and also a preliminary report done by the enterprise offering the product. Without question, in order to adjust the final price and minimize problems, the actual BEMS tend to be “locked products”, with fixed components, proprietary network protocols and layouts owned by the company or the consortium/association, and software solutions copyrighted and not accessible to the user or the maintenance service (save for the case that the service is the one offered by the company, obviously).
Taking into account all the former considerations, it is clear that the BEMS still need some research on open systems, also versatile but efficient, to generate some market competition, enhance the current systems, and open the possibility of using them inside the maximum number of dwellings in Europe, where there is a big concern about these issues as long as the dwelling stock there is old, inefficient in terms of energy usage and with poor levels of comfort (from the numbers of the EU, the 75% of the houses don’t apply energy efficiency measurements).
CARTIF, through the Division of Energy, has and still is working on European projects like E2VENT, 3ENCULT or BRESAER that include one BEMS amongst their fundamental elements of r&d, with demo sites in Spain, France, Germany, Poland and Turkey, and where CARTIF has the main role in the development of these systems.
It can be concluded that the BEMS will be, in a short term, an integral part of the equipment of any modern home, in the same way the air conditioning or the telecommunications did in the past, contributing in the enhancement of the welfare and the energy efficiency.
