Blueprint for Net Zero
TECHNOLOGIES
PILLAR 3
The harmony of function and feasibility: Striking a delicate balance with technology in the built environment
Assessing the viability of new technologies
From remote monitoring devices, smart control systems, generative AI, electronically commutated motors and electric vehicles, it’s an exciting time for technology in the built environment. It’s also an incredibly tumultuous time.
While new technologies are taking off at record speed, it still begs the question whether the built environment is ready for it. The Paris Agreement, for instance, has propelled a surge in EV growth and yet, supply is scaling faster than our ability to keep pace. Our infrastructure is ill-equipped for some of the technological innovations taking place, even while the potential ROI of doing so could be exponential.
According to a Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory study, even greater use of technology can reduce the growth of carbon emissions by one-third.
The technological landscape
Investment in new technologies will continue to constitute a large area of opportunity, with climate tech investments alone soaring to $56 billion between 2020 and 2021 and experts predicting that global spending on the transition to more livable and resilient communities could reach $275 trillion by 2050. Clearly, there is an appetite for new tech among investors and entrepreneurs.
As the innovation manager for Xylem’s global innovation team, Kyle Schoenheit focuses on integrating innovation through disruptive technology or business models, supporting incubation with third-party partnerships that have high potential for growth.
No stranger to the hunger for new tech, Schoenheit also suggested that technological innovation within the building sector is directly tied to the industry’s willingness to change, and no one solution alone can address water quality, sustainability and decarbonization. Rather, it requires a strategic blend of technologies to drive impact and assess the specific needs of a building or project.
For instance, Xylem Innovation Lab (XIL) projects that leverage technologies that are scalable from a residential unit to a larger commercial building, taking used and potable water that has been used in an office space, or utility water that can be recycled or used for residential, can significantly reduce water consumption. On average, large commercial buildings (over 200,000 square feet) in the United States use approximately 20 gallons of water per square foot.
On the digital front, technologies like Building Information Modeling and remote monitoring that communicate with Building Management Systems, as well as digital construction technologies, are fostering holistic design and accelerating the industry at a rapid pace by connecting different members of the built environment community, helping them communicate in real time and driving efficient resource management.
Other technologies like AI- and machine learning-based solutions can complement decarbonization efforts to not only optimize operational aspects but embed efficiency into everyday practices and programs.
Tools like Xylem’s optimyze® condition monitoring system and cloud-enabled Avensor can be paired with pumps and accessed remotely to proactively assess equipment status and extend longevity – ideal for operators in remote areas or with fewer resources.
Ultimately, the application and deployment of such technologies is “allowing our industry to communicate to others in a more personal, impactful way about the importance of our work and the vital role our industry plays in improving sustainability, increasing energy efficiency, solving the climate crisis and improving indoor environmental quality for everyone,” said ASHRAE President Knight.
Spanning the globe
Across the globe, technological deployment is occurring, emphasizing that decarbonization and sustainability is a worldwide undertaking. Take Scottish Water. Responsible for providing water and wastewater services to more than 2.6 million homes and 150,000 businesses across Scotland, the utility is a model in efficiency, thanks to the deployment of remote monitoring technology to help reduce energy use and unplanned maintenance. With a commitment to achieve net-zero emissions by 2040, technology that favors ease-of-use over complexity is a surefire way to drive adoption.
“If the technology is designed right, and it’s easy for operators to access and use, then it can be easy for operators to adopt,” said Nathan Wield, wastewater operations west manager for Scottish Water. “It’s when we make it complex and cumbersome that you get pushback and rejection. With Avensor, everything makes sense, and even the graphics are easy to understand.”
Wisconsin-based Hydro-Flo Products Inc. shares a similar sentiment, that technology that gives users insight into what’s going on with systems rapidly and can adjust in real-time is crucial to overall system health and longevity. “If we can make it easier for users to select that high efficiency-drive included product by integrating it into our system sizing programs and tools,” individuals would be more receptive to it overall, suggested Hydro-Flo owner and president Meier.
Acknowledging the limitations
Whether it’s new technology or investing in existing technologies that can help system buildings and operators plan better, what all these projects have in common is working within existing parameters to optimize and reclaim space and footprint.
“Some of the technology is not necessarily new innovation or discovery of a new technology but rather changing its purpose into an integrated solution that can be easily installed and optimized within a current water or HVAC system or a reclaimed system. It's just in a new form or function of footprint within it,” said XIL’s Schoenheit.
Even so, the desire to move to electrification overnight is in direct conflict with the availability of required components in the supply chain to do so – and will require a gradual, managed transition. For instance, under a new state regulation in California, 35% of new 2026 car models sold must be zero-emissions, with a lofty goal of ramping up to 100% in 2035. However, powering these vehicles means the state must triple its power generation capacity, posing a universal paradox: How can new technologies be deployed if the infrastructure and the grid isn’t prepared for it?
Across the building community, professionals are increasingly puzzled by this and how to strike the balance between what's available and what’s achievable. FIA Inc. President Pratt echoed this, “How do you double or triple the electricity supply to a community without a significant increase in just going in and adding more infrastructure?”
Knowing that energy demand is expected to grow 18% by 2050, we need to demonstrate gaps in our current reality so that we may identify alternatives to and opportunities within that reality.
Areas of opportunity
Embracing clean technologies
Wider adoption of green technologies in the pursuit of healthy buildings, both new construction and retrofit projects, hinges on collaboration. A national coalition of nine major cities and counties recently enacted a turnkey building decarbonization program – Building Decarbonization In-A-Box – aiming to rapidly scale up the deployment of clean-energy technologies across millions of small commercial and multifamily buildings with persistently high carbon footprints. While collaboration like this is not a new phenomenon, this represents one of the first initiatives to demonstrate how funding from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund will mobilize capital for on-the-ground decarbonization projects in communities across America, suggesting that perhaps the area of opportunity is more complex than just the availability of said technologies, but a combination of business, economic, regulatory and societal factors.
After all, it is a “competitive strategy to have a green machine,” according to Chamberlain of Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA). From the building owner or manager perspective, being able to demonstrate tangibly how you are outperforming others in the marketplace is crucial to quantify technological investment goals.
“When we're talking HVAC/R, many times we don’t think outside of our box, but if you think about a building, it involves almost every business sector, education sector, every sector of society,” said ASHRAE President Knight.
Redefining innovation to impact sustainability
In a recent assessment of the current state of our workforce, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce found that there are 7.7 million open jobs in the U.S. but only 7.1 million unemployed workers. Navigating this reality means that employers will need to prepare a new generation of laborers to meet these industry demands. This presents another area of opportunity in the form of education and training around new technologies.
ASHRAE is an international society of more than 50,000 HVAC professionals from over 132 nations. Founded in 1894, the organization stays on the cusp of technological trends. Its most recently established Artificial Intelligence Multi-Disciplinary Task Group focused on the technical application of AI and how to leverage it to improve member experiences is just one example of that, on par with McKinsey’s Technology Trends Outlook 2024.
AI may be the key to the workforces of the future, with a recent JLL report finding that current AI capabilities, such as image recognition, data modeling and text generation, can potentially optimize an estimated 65% of sustainable asset improvement-related tasks, helping building owners and operators make more informed, data-driven decisions when it comes to their retrofit and building strategies.
Intelligence and interconnectivity driving holistic design
While retrofit presents a cost-effective design option, the International Energy Agency estimates that only around 1% of buildings are retrofitted each year, suggesting there is still a missed opportunity in this regard. Aside from technologies like hydronics that make integration in existing buildings more manageable, a focus on holistic and integrated design processes is equally as important.
Digital software like global commercial real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield’s Green Buildings empower building owners and managers to identify opportunities for reducing their environmental footprints – driving smarter building design as a result.
Hydronics as a tried-and-true technology
Some offer that one of the integral technologies to advancing sustainability and decarbonization has in fact always been here. Mike Licastro, manager of training and education at Xylem Bell & Gossett’s Little Red Schoolhouse (LRSH), regularly teaches the potential of hydronic technology through hands-on training and education. Whether it’s starting out from scratch or reusing the existing equipment in a building, Licastro offered that hydronics have been around for centuries as a proven heating and cooling solution.
Others are exploring the value of incorporating hydronics into more modern applications, such as data centers, as another way to prove the technology’s long-term viability. While data centers use huge amounts of energy and water, water-based systems like hydronic systems contain significant thermal management properties.
On the topic of data centers, Green Building Initiative President and CEO Vicki Worden suggested that having integrated design conversations that involve all stakeholders can be particularly beneficial.
Mike Licastro
Manager of training and education
Xylem Bell & Gossett featured on ASHRAE Journal Hot Air Podcast
“There’s a lot of creativity and innovation that can happen if we get together and talk about what our challenges are. For instance, if we can get a data center located in a community with available power and position it so that any heat that comes out of the building can be repurposed to the heating needs of an adjacent building or community member,” said GBI's Worden.
Sustainability and energy efficiency
Solutions like Bell & Gossett’s hydrovar® X-enabled smart pumps are critical in the push to sustainability and energy efficiency, representing the culmination of years of pushing new technology now at the forefront of business investments. Combining industry-leading pumps with Xylem’s innovative Smart Motor technology, this prepackaged solution is one example where sustainability is the ultimate benefit, but efficiency is the goal. Embracing technology goes back to the business strategy and what makes sense from an investment perspective – or how one can make the business case for new technology.
The realities of our environment and climate change
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