BCIA: Why BEMS and Building Controls should come before Solar PV and Heat Pumps

The energy crisis has changed the conversation around how we power our buildings.

Volatile prices have brought energy cost and security into much sharper focus, while the pressure to reduce carbon emissions has not gone away. Against that backdrop, the case for investing in renewable energy is compelling.

But there is another question we should be asking: how much of the energy we already use could be avoided altogether?

For the built environment, energy efficiency and renewable generation must go hand in hand. Expanding renewable energy supply alone will not deliver the full benefits if buildings continue to consume more energy than necessary. Reducing energy demand through smarter building operation is just as important as increasing renewable generation when it comes to lowering costs and cutting carbon emissions.

Start with what the building actually needs

Solar PV, heat pumps, battery storage and other low-carbon technologies all have an important role to play, but before deciding how much energy a building needs to generate or store, we should understand how much it actually needs to consume.

That means knowing where energy is being used, when demand is highest and, importantly, whether building services are operating as intended.

A Building Energy Management System (BEMS) can provide that visibility. It might reveal plant running when a building is largely empty, control settings that no longer reflect how a space is being used or equipment consuming more energy than expected.

These issues do not necessarily require major capital investment to resolve. In many cases, the opportunity to improve performance is already there; we just need to identify it.

Are we making enough of what we already have?

This is something I think deserves more attention because many commercial buildings already collect significant amounts of operational data, but having that data and using it effectively are two very different things.

A BEMS can help facilities teams understand how a building is behaving, identify changes in performance and pinpoint areas worth investigating. The important part is what happens next. Data sitting in a system does not save energy; its value comes from how it is interpreted and acted upon.

The same applies to the controls themselves. A system can be technically sophisticated, but if it is poorly configured, inadequately maintained or difficult for the people operating the building to use, it is unlikely to deliver everything it is capable of.

So, before looking for the next piece of technology, it is worth asking whether we are getting the most from what is already there.

Buildings change, and controls need to change with them

This becomes particularly important across the existing building stock because buildings rarely continue to operate exactly as they did when they were first commissioned.

Occupancy patterns change, spaces are repurposed, equipment is replaced and operating hours evolve. Controls may also be adjusted or overridden along the way, so a building that performed efficiently several years ago may no longer be operating in the same way today.

Reviewing control strategies, correcting poorly configured systems and matching operation more closely to how a building is actually being used can reduce unnecessary demand without compromising the comfort or wellbeing of occupants.

For me, this is why energy management cannot be treated as a one-off exercise. Building performance needs to be understood and reviewed throughout the life of the building, with controls adapting as its use changes.

Energy resilience changes the conversation

Recent energy price volatility has also made energy management about more than a reduction in carbon emissions.

As buildings become increasingly electrified and organisations invest in onsite generation and battery storage, understanding when and how energy is being consumed becomes even more important. Managing that demand more effectively can help organisations make better use of the energy they generate while reducing unnecessary consumption.

It also challenges the assumption that improving energy performance must always start with major new investment. Sometimes the first question should be much simpler: what are we already using, and why?

The energy we don't need to generate

These are some of the issues we will be discussing on 21 October, when I will be chairing the Energy Management panel at Facilities & Estates Management Live. The conversation will look at the impact of the energy crisis, investment in renewables and what the built environment can do to accelerate the adoption of energy management solutions.

There will inevitably be different views on where investment should be prioritised, and there is no single technology that will solve the energy challenge. Renewable generation will undoubtedly be part of the answer, but so too is making better use of what we already have.

If we understand our buildings better, use the controls and data already available to us and address unnecessary consumption, the energy we generate can go further.

Perhaps the first question should not always be how we generate more energy, but how we avoid wasting the energy we already have.