A person in a dark suit holds an award from the DGNB, which is given for sustainable buildings.

December 15. 2020 - 6 min. reading time

Effects of building digitization in sustainable construction

Their essential role and influence on the ecological, economic and socio-cultural quality of buildings.

by Hussein Zaazou

A smiling man with dark hair, arms crossed, in a gray sweater, against an urban background.

In October, I had the pleasure of taking part in a panel discussion at Expo Digital. The topic: "Certification systems in terms of sustainability in construction". All the participants except me were representatives of renowned architectural firms, established real estate investors or other well-known real estate companies. I was invited a week before the event and was asked to represent the digitalization perspective.

At first glance, the topic seemed foreign to me. For me, sustainability certifications such as the DGNB certificate in Germany had hardly any connection to building digitization and smart buildings. After more detailed research (so as not to make a complete fool of myself during the panel discussion), I quickly understood how essential digitalization can be for sustainable construction and its certification systems.

Why do buildings get certified at all?

In the construction industry, certifications are very popular - especially for high-quality properties - as they represent a seal of quality for a building, thus increasing the value of the building and making buildings comparable with each other for investors, stakeholders and tenants - for example with regard to the energy consumption of these buildings.

Certification systems such as the DGNB have a series of criteria on the basis of which a building project is assessed and, depending on the degree of fulfillment, a certificate is issued (e.g. bronze, silver, gold or platinum).

In the case of the DGNB certificate for new buildings, the assessment is based on six different main criteria. The most important of these are

Ecological quality - Evaluates the impact of the building on the environment.
Economic quality - considers the long-term economic efficiency and value development of a building.
Sociocultural and functional quality - Evaluates the building in terms of health, comfort and user satisfaction.

Circular diagram with three sections representing ecological, economic and socio-cultural and functional quality, with descriptions of sustainability, costs, comfort, satisfaction and mobility.

An office with a white desk, a laptop, a desk lamp and a man sitting in a chair. On the wall hangs a display board with information about the office, temperature, CO2 values and reservation times.

That's all still a dream of the future, isn't it?

No, it really isn't. Even if it sounds like science fiction, the solutions described are already being used in buildings. For example, the cube berlin uses the Thing-it solution to promote sustainability in operation and to be able to run the systems more efficiently.

...

The panel discussion went really well, by the way. All the participants represented different points of view, all of which I found extremely interesting. However, everyone agreed on one point: much more needs to be done for sustainability in construction in the future. I'm pretty sure that digitalization in particular will play a central role in this.

Bibliography

DGNB System. (2020). Overview of all criteria for buildings in operation. Retrieved December 15, 2020, from https://www.dgnb-system.de/de/gebaeude/im-betrieb/kriterien/index.php

What are the limits of the certification systems?

So far so good. But what does this have to do with the digitalization of buildings? That is a legitimate question. To answer it, we first need to look at the limits of certification systems.

1. no guarantee for sustainable operation

Certifications are often issued during construction and are therefore based on planning, i.e. they "only" prove the potential of a building to be sustainable; they cannot influence the way the building is operated. An example of this is the incorrect setting of ventilation systems, which can lead to unnecessary energy losses.

2. sociocultural and functional quality vs. ecological and economic quality

User comfort in the building may have the opposite effect to the ecological and economic quality of a building in operation.

A good example of this, which unfortunately occurs all too often, is a building that is operated from 18:00 - 08:00 in after-setback mode (energy-saving mode). However, a user has to work during these times and notices that the heating has been turned down. He calls the responsible Facilities Management and they switch the building to comfort mode. Unfortunately, this phenomenon is increasingly common in high-end buildings where, for example, lawyers, bankers and consultants work, which means that such buildings are often operated 24/7 in comfort mode. Although this increases user comfort, it has a negative impact on the ecological and economic quality of the building.

How can a building digitization platform like Thing-It help?

Now we have also understood where the limits of certification systems lie. Let's look at the two points mentioned above, A and B, separately.

Thing-it can bring about a significant improvement in sustainable operation by using the "Building Operating System" (BOS). The BOS is an intelligent platform that can access all data in the building (e.g. building automation, lighting system, motion sensors, access control) and knows exactly how the various elements should behave under normal circumstances. The information collected is then made available to the building operator in a clear and transparent manner in the form of dashboards.

If the room temperature does not reach the set temperature over a certain period of time, for example, despite a 100% open heat valve, a warning is quickly sent to the Facilities Manager (FM) via the Thing-it app or the Thing-it console. The FM can then immediately find out where the fault lies and rectify it.

Another example would be if the CO2 levels in a room did not fall despite active ventilation. By quickly analyzing the motion sensors, the FM can determine whether the room is overcrowded or the ventilation is potentially blocked. This case is particularly relevant for limiting the spread of coronavirus in the workplace.

Let's move on to user comfort and how this normally has a negative impact on the ecological and economic quality of a building and what solutions digitalization can offer in return.

By using Thing-it, user comfort can be limited to the bare essentials so that the comfort of individual users is guaranteed without having a major impact on the sustainability of the building. To do this, Thing-it uses the data provided, such as room bookings and motion sensors, to intervene in a dedicated and tailored manner for the individual user.

The best example of this is a room that is booked outside the regular times. Normally, the entire building is in night setback mode at these times. However, as the BOS knows which room has been booked at which time, this room (and only this room) can be preheated or ventilated so that the end user does not notice any loss of comfort when they enter the room, while the rest of the building remains in night setback mode.