How big a role can KNX play in slowing climate change?

Alongside increased energy generation from renewable sources, energy efficiency is one of the two key strategies that the government is promoting to cut greenhouse gas emissions.  The UN sees efficiency improvements as quicker and cheaper to implement than green energy, and such speed will be crucial to avoid ‘tipping points’ – where dangerous runaway climate change occurs – that (and this is the scary part) scientists believe may be less than 10 years away.

Energy efficiency has a crucial role to play in cutting CO2 and other greenhouse gases.  The International Energy Agency (IEA) believes that improvements in efficiency alone could be responsible for around 65% of the reduction in emissions from developing countries over the next 20 years, while the UK’s Committee on Climate Change has placed energy efficiency at the centre of its proposal for meeting the UK target of an 80% reduction in emissions by the year 2050.

Climate change and our ever-depleting energy resources mean that efficient energy use is a major social issue.  And because they account for around 40% of total energy consumption, our buildings represent a significant opportunity for us to save a significant amount of energy.  KNX meets the requirements of the top Energy Performance Class for building automation as per EN 15232.  This basically means that KNX is ideally suited to fulfilling the tightened energy consumption requirements for buildings and can allow up to 50% energy savings across a building.

Table 1: Energy Savings with KNX
Source: Energy Efficiency with KNX

• Up to 40 % with KNX shading control
• Up to 50 % with KNX individual room control
• Up to 60 % with KNX lighting control
• Up to 60 % with KNX ventilation control

Buildings that are energy efficiently designed and operated are no longer unique.  Even the description ‘an intelligent building’ is beginning to lose its press appeal.  However, both trends are currently revolutionizing increasingly ambitious architecture and setting a course in the worldwide fight against climate change.  In reality, energy conservation in the building sector has, to a degree, become a trend and has slowly become an everyday concept for architects as well as for building contractors.  Due to the recently recurring annual natural disasters, both large and small, we can see the impact of increasing climate change.  We are, therefore, forced to look to the future and take responsibility for the actions of our society today.

During the construction of a building, as well as during its operation, large amounts of energy are used and for this reason, targeted usage in this area is highly effective.  This does not necessarily mean the ultimate goal should be a ‘zero-energy buulding’.  On its own the intelligent networking of all devices to a decentralized complete system can deliver unforeseen savings.  The networking of all electrical functions in a single installation bus system provides the opportunity for optimal coordinated control.  The operation of heating, air-conditioning, lights and blinds for example can be aligned with external climate conditions and be controlled from an interface.  Energy consumption is thereby kept to a minimum.

Since all electrical driven equipment and installations can be flexibly combined with one another and can be controlled by touch panels or by public networks (telephone, internet), in terms of design and comfort, this opens up unlimited possibilities – from efficient building management through to intelligent security control, the storage of different light, noise and air quality requirements, which can all be realized without great effort.

The creativity of the designer is now called upon, thereby bringing closer the goal of creating expressive and exciting architecture, which is both ecologically sound and profitable.  One thing is crystal clear – we control climate change and with KNX we can make a significant contribution to improving energy efficiency!

Visit knxshop.co.uk - the UK’s leading on-line supplier of KNX products for building control, including lighting, heating, blinds, audio and much more.

Tags: Building Control, Energy Management, KNX, Smart Technology

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 16th, 2009 at 6:34 pm and is filed under KNX, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.