1. Including content from:
• US Government
• European Commission • UNDP
• IFAD • World Water Council
• World Energy Council • IISD

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E ne r g y S ecu r i t y
E ne r g y S ecu r i t y
The European Building
Automation and Controls
Association (eu.bac) vision
for Smart Grids and smart
buildings design in the EU
is based on 6 principles:
Smart energy
in the European
Union
1. For the non-residential sector, Smart
Grids deployment and especially smart
buildings should ensure customer benefits
are maximised, demand and costs are
minimised, and competitive forces drive
customer value. Renewable energy is
generated at a time determined by the
weather. To maximise its use in
time-sensitive applications, use needs
to be controlled to minimise demand,
predicted to maximise storage and
satisfied by low carbon sources before
resorting to fossil fuel. Buildings need to be
connected to the Smart Grid to deliver the
benefits of energy management.
Europe’s energy landscape is slowly evolving from a largely centralised
production system towards a more decentralised, consumer-interactive and
intelligent landscape. Smart energy use improves energy efficiency, reduces
a. Optimised coordination of energy
loads, on-site energy generation and
energy storage.
costs for energy users, and provides a more secure energy system. It also
offers local employment for small and medium sized enterprises and helps to
stimulate our economy. It is a win-win situation.
b. Automatic demand reduction, achieved
for individual or groups of buildings to
reduce overall demand as well as a
storage facility for renewable energy and a
buffer against supply constraints.
c. Fully integrated control of lighting,
heating, cooling, ventilation, IT, and other
energy consuming systems, using weather
data and information from security,
scheduling and other business systems to
optimise performance.
T
o use our energy
smarter, policy must
give equal weight to demand
side as to ensuring we use
the minimum amount of
energy with the least carbon
content. Smart Grids, in
combination with smart
buildings will help to make
Frédéric Melchior, Director
Governmental Relations eu.bac
that possible.
In the building sector, intelligent and
distributed management systems
enable consumers to monitor, supervise
and control their energy consumption,
achieving up to 30% energy savings.
These intelligent systems also maximise
the use of (low carbon) distributed
generation. This reduces load on the
distribution network and provides data to
make a more effective Smart Grid. Loads
can be smoothed to remove the peaks,
and generation can be planned from the
lowest carbon sources. ‘The lights will be
kept on’ without resorting to low-efficiency
reserve generation facilities, simply by
managing where the power is to be used
and when it is available.
Demand reduction is the cheapest way to
reach the European Union’s (EU) 20-20-20
goals and Smart Grids and smart buildings
offer the means to achieve this goal. Using
less is not only the cheapest; it is also the
cleanest option and is abundantly available
domestically. By combining Smart Grids
and smart buildings (e.g. through demandresponse programmes), consumers could
directly and immediately monetise their
energy savings, thus further improving their
return on their investment (e.g. Negawatt).
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E ne r g y S ecu r i t y
d. Advanced diagnostics and automated
measurement, verification and reporting
of energy and greenhouse gas emissions
savings.
e. Continuous two-way communication
between the building and the Smart Grid.
f. Automatic demand response to dynamic
pricing signals from the Smart Grid.
2. For consumers (residential owners
and tenants), the Smart Grids and smart
buildings should provide reliable power,
timely and secure information to empower
them to control their energy consumption.
It should incentivise consumers to decrease
their overall consumption.
a. Consumer buy-in (home-owners or
tenants) is essential. Progress towards Smart
Grids will be in the hands of consumers.
b. Behavioural change cannot be achieved
by smart meters alone; they only provide
information on energy usage and pricing.
c. Upgrading grids with smart control
technologies allows consumers not only
to track their energy use in real time
and understand energy pricing, coupled
with smart controls technology (such as
programmable thermostats) will help shift
demand towards off-peak times, for example
during the night.
E ne r g y S ecu r i t y
turning off lights, cycling equipment, or
temporarily changing temperature set points.
b.ii. Facility managers do not need to be
directly involved during a peak event unless
they choose to.
b.iii. Allowing energy curtailment reports in
real time, enabling facility managers to see
where load is shed.
3.iv. Users of the building are unlikely to be
aware of these activities.
4. For Member States, the Smart Grids
and smart buildings should enable the EU
to meet its 20-20-20 goals and beyond,
reduce dependence and expense of
imported energy, and in particular facilitate
the integration of renewable energy as well
as future applications such as plug-in hybrid
electrical vehicle-charging.
a. Utilities are facing increased volatility
during peak periods and need improved
systems to handle response. This is
increasing with more renewable energy and
more energy demand (e.g. electric vehicles).
b. Demand reduction is the cheapest
way to achieve the EU’s 20-20-20 goals.
eu.bac encourages the EU to continue to
engage in efforts to deploy energy efficiency
technologies and energy management
services and Smart Grids.
d. Depending on the existing heating
system, house type and level of thermal
insulation, we calculate the typical pay-back
period to be 12-24 months and reduced
demand by up to 30%.
5. Data privacy of information about
consumers’ energy behaviour must be
upheld, but their usage must be shared to
allow informed decisions to effect
behaviour change.
3. For utilities, the Smart Grids and the
smart buildings should enable enhanced
reliability, robust generation, transmission
and distribution of power, reduce outages
carbon content, and enable appropriate
information about energy and dissemination
to all rate-payers
a. It is essential that anonymised data is
made available to homes and buildings to
a. Automated demand response enables
utilities and their customers to partner to
develop shed strategies to reduce load or
shift peak load and integrate intermittent
renewable energy.
b. The benefits of automated demandresponse include:
b.i. Non-residential customers can opt out
of peak energy usage events, or customise
their load shed strategies - this could include
encourage behaviour change. However, it
is also essential that personal details are
protected absolutely. (There is little point in
comparing the consumption of two adjacent
homes if one has a single occupant and the
other a family of six. Similarly, there is little
point in comparing two families of the same
size whose homes are different).
b. Policy must be established regarding
the collection, storage and distribution of
consumer data collected by utilities and
third parties.
6. Open communication protocols are
essential to maximise energy saving
technologies that enable Smart Grids and
smart buildings, so that technologies can be
‘future-proofed’.
a. Smart Grids solutions should be ‘future
proofed’. Solutions that do not support
device-to-device communication, both
inside and outside the consumer premises
should be critically considered before largescale deployment.
b. Protocols must be based on the needs
of both suppliers and demand reducing
services and technologies
c. In residential buildings, heating and hot
water controls currently serve as the most
significant interface that occupants have with
the largest single energy using appliance in
their homes. Controls have the capability
to interface with a wide range of other
home applications.
d. Therefore eu.bac encourages the EU and
the European Standardisation Organisations
to ensure open communication protocols for
devices within the home.
About eu.bac
eu.bac is the European
Building Automation and
Controls Association. It
represents some 95% of the
European manufacturers
of products for home and
building automation. For a full
and updated overview of our
membership, please see
www.eubac.org
More importantly, eu.bac members’
products and services manage over
half of the energy demand in the
European Union, reducing waste,
reducing demand and increasing
efficiency. By providing distributed
intelligence, eu.bac members’
products and services ensure that
the built environment is ready and
able to respond to smart grid signals,
demands and supplies.
eu.bac, has developed its own
robust certification scheme,
eu.bac CERT, which assures that
technologies (products and systems)
in the area of building automation
and controls are in conformity
with European Directives and with
European Standards. The eu.bac
CERT mark is the symbol that
represents energy efficiency, quality
and reliability.
For more information, please contact:
Frédéric Melchior
(Director Governmental Relations)
Diamant Building, Boulevard A.
Reyers, 80, 1030 Brussels, Belgium
E: frederic.melchior@eubac.org
T: +32 2 706 82 02 / +32 474 91 59 11
F: +32 2 706 82 10
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