Rethinking efficiency in buildings The simple truth about Europe’s buildings We spend most of our time in buildings – working, shopping, learning, sleeping. It’s not surprising, therefore, that these buildings consume a lot of energy. Most of this is used to maintain the right temperature and air quality inside the building. This is controlled by heating, cooling and ventilation systems, which are known collectively as technical building systems. When these systems aren’t set up properly or do not run efficiently, even more energy is required – leading to higher bills and increased CO2 emissions. It doesn’t need to be this way. Simple improvements could help reduce energy wastage, cut costs, and make our buildings healthier, more comfortable and more productive places to be. From drain to gain – unlocking our buildings’ energy saving potential Energy consultancy Ecofys has recently published a comprehensive report, addressing these challenges at an EU level. The report – Optimising the energy use of technical building systems – is the first of its kind to quantify energy savings potential that could be achieved by retrofitting and optimising these systems. This huge improvement in energy efficiency can be realised using simple and innovative measures that have a very short payback period. 30% average energy savings potential by optimising technical building systems The challenges 30% 36% of total EU energy consumption used to heat and cool our buildings of the EU’s carbon emissions comes from buildings 70% of an average household’s energy bill spent on heating and cooling €240bn spent by EU citizens on space and water heating per year 1in10 people in the EU struggle to heat their homes 110m EU citizens living in buildings with hazardous concentrations of pollutants due to inefficient ventilation Learn more at danfoss.com/buildingefficiency
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