A holistic approach to Energy Management

Anagha Nyayadhish

Introduction

The world has been talking about climate change for over a decade now and there has been an
increasing focus on limiting the impact of human actions on the environment. The global leaders
unanimously agree on the vision that sustainability needs to become a mainstream strategy for
businesses while planning growth. This urgency has brought a paradigm shift in every industry.
With buildings consuming over 40% of the energy, the infrastructure industry moved faster to
modernize how buildings are designed and operated. Traditionally the efforts around making buildings
energy efficient happen in silos, whether it is upgrading HVAC systems, retrofitting lighting systems or
digitization of various elements of the building, it all happens as separate projects. However, in an era
where eventually all systems can come together over a single digital, AI enabled platform where
performance can be monitored, a fragmented approach is slowing down the progress.
To truly achieve modern age, sustainable, energy efficient buildings, the industry must adopt a holistic
approach that encompasses the full energy ecosystem – from power grids to mechanical and controls
systems to occupants’ comfort and safety systems.
This article explores the impact of a comprehensive, end to end energy strategy interlinking intelligent
power distribution to smart asset management and occupant centric designs as the future of the next
generation intelligent buildings. This integrated approach empowers every element of the energy
supply chain to work better by acting together.

3

Why Energy Management needs a Paradigm Shift
In the conventional energy model, buildings are seen as passive consumers of energy and hence the
energy supply and distribution networks have always operated independent of the building
management systems which are major consumers of energy. However, with growing clean energy
sources such as solar and wind, the grid itself is undergoing major transformations from being
centralized to distributed and more interactive. And buildings must evolve to become active nodes of
this network instead of just the receiving endpoints. The old paradigm of supply-side design must be
replaced with dynamic demand-side responsive design, bidirectional communication and smart
feedback mechanism to ensure the consumers become active, strategic partners of energy supply.
By bringing grid management, asset management and occupants comfort requirements together, we
can turn a fragmented system into a holistic one which would reduce inefficiencies, eliminate
duplication of efforts and identify missed opportunities.

1. Pillars of the holistic approach
   1.1 Grid Management:
   Intelligent grid management helps suppliers and distributors to enhance supply network, reduce
   downtime and converge with various energy sources. Grids are ready to evolve to accommodate
   renewable energy sources and adjust to dynamic load patterns. The evolution of microgrids and
   peer-to-peer energy trading demonstrates the decentralization as the future of power distribution.
   Hence, grids now can make use of real time visibility into demand and so buildings should function as
   a collaborative partner than a static consumer.
   Key strategies at grid level include:

4

1. Demand Side Management: Work with buildings to shift usage during peak demand hours
   thereby reducing grid stress and carbon intensity. DSM strategies can only be enabled
   through intelligent building management systems.
2. Grid Intelligence: Use AI for real time load prediction.
3. DER Integration: Distributed Energy Resources are the need of the time, and the power
   supply network needs to be equipped for effectively switching through the solar, wind and
   battery sources.
   1.2 Building Management Systems – An Energy Responsive Infrastructure:
   Modern buildings are not just the consumers of electricity – they are the active participants in the
   energy ecosystem. Smart building management systems use technology to effectively orchestrate
   HVAC, lighting and other building assets to optimize performance and bring efficiency in the
   operations. However, most buildings still operate in silos, with limited knowledge and insight into grid
   stress or carbon intensity.
   A holistic energy strategy for buildings should include:
4. Integrated BMS: Integrated BMS uses IoT for real time monitoring and control. With all
   systems integrated, operators have better visibility over the performance of their buildings
   and time need of maintenance.
5. Asset Management & Predictive Analytics: Intelligent Asset Management plays an important
   role in ensuring energy efficiency. AI enabled strategies to reduce downtime and optimize
   maintenance schedules thereby increasing operational efficiency of the building assets.
6. Occupancy based comfort optimization: Systems that adapt to occupancy trends and
   schedule peak hours vs after hours zone requirements.

5

1.3 The Occupants’ Engagement – Comfort Optimization:
While solution providers discuss energy, the cost can never be occupants’ health and comfort.
Energy efficiency must strategically embed in a design that is inherently occupant centric. Digital
solutions in smart buildings enable real-time behavioral monitoring to enable building management
systems to identify needs and adjust the responses accordingly. Behavioral insights can make energy
efficiency a more conscious choice than a byproduct of certain actions.
Occupant-centric strategy must include:

1. Digital Interfaces: Digital applications enable users to interact with underlying systems
   effectively and in real-time. These systems then can understand trends, identify patterns and
   calibrate themselves to be more efficient.
2. Health and Safety oriented designs: Sustainability should never be at a cost of health or safety
   of the people occupying these buildings. Designs that keep the health and safety of the
   occupants as a non-negotiable parameter last longer.
3. Technology Enablers of the Holistic Strategy:
   Modern day energy management revolves around connectivity, data availability, analytics and
   automation. A holistic approach to energy management is only possible if all elements of the energy
   lifecycle can be brought together. Some of the key technologies that would enable this integration
   are:
4. Internet of Things (IoT) and Edge Computing: IoT has been at the core of every new-age
   integrated platform. IoT has enabled granular monitoring by connecting every sensor and
   field device to a larger network. Combing IoT with edge computing has made field devices

6
smarter and empowered them for decision making thereby creating highly responsive
engineering systems.

2. Digital Twins: A digital twin is an exact virtual replica of a building including all physical assets

the build holds. Digital twins allow simulations, allow scenario execution and provide a real-
world view of the asset health and zone status. With integration of all systems, digital twins

can help understand asset health, predict energy demands and provide risk insights.

3. Artificial Intelligence (AI): AI can analyze large data sets to identify usage patterns, understand
   anomalies in the systems, recognize energy leaks and effectively automate decision making.
   AI models train themselves over the behaviors of the assets, systems and people occupying
   the spaces and provide critical insights into load forecasting, asset maintenance and systemic
   inefficiencies.
4. Smart Grid platforms: New integration platforms and middleware help create seamless
   communication between buildings and utilities. By integrating building management systems
   into utility systems, facility managers can monitor energy transactions, changing demands,
   pricing drivers and demand responsiveness in real-time.
5. The top outcomes of the holistic energy management approach
   The holistic approach encompasses all elements of the energy lifecycle, from source to consumer. By
   employing a holistic strategy, the industry can gain:
6. Collaboration: By integrating all systems together, the solution providers collaborate to work
   on an efficient energy design. Breaking silos between energy providers and operational users,
   the system can work together to bring thorough efficiency in the system.

7

2. Transparency: Provide visibility to all stakeholders through dashboards, KPIs and alerts
   thereby empowering informed decision making and creating accountability. Transparency in
   data sharing is also a key requirement in reporting and compliance.
3. Resilience: Climate changes are causing extreme weather conditions and utility breakages or
   downtime risks are at all-time high. A holistic approach can provide resilience to the energy
   chain by predicting events, real-time monitoring, creating redundant systems and self-healing
   networks.
4. Sustainability: The world is focusing on net-zero, renewable energy sources and carbon
   neutralization. A holistic approach can provide insights into carbon monitoring, circular
   energy and enable faster route to Net zero targets.
   A quick view of the holistic approach to energy ecosystem:

8

4. Conclusion: Change in systemic thought process
   Energy management has come a long way from just manual interventions to a self-sufficient,
   empowered process. It is a strategic lever for business performance, profitability and sustainability.
   Moving further, a fragmented approach in the systems will not suffice in an interconnected world
   which is set to achieve Net zero targets.
   A holistic approach is the need of the hour which will interlink power plants to plug points, grids to
   building assets and energy nodes to occupants’ comfort. Industry leaders, utility providers and
   policymakers should come together to promote such a collaborative approach and incentivize the
   outcome.
   Digitalization offers all the necessary tools, however, a strategic initiative to collaborate is essential to

drive a complete transformation. As we envision a carbon-neutral, energy efficient and occupant-
centric future of the infrastructure industry, holistic energy thinking will create not just efficiency but

a thought leadership of innovation, impact and enablement though collaboration.

9

References:

1. International Energy Agency (IEA). (2022). Global Status Report for Buildings and
   Construction. Paris: IEA.
2. McKinsey & Company. (2022). How digital twins are redefining building management.
3. United Nations Environment Programme. (2021). Buildings and Climate Change. UNEP.
4. World Economic Forum. (2023). Net-Zero Carbon Cities: An Integrated Approach. Geneva:
   WEF.