TheConversation: How does energy efficiency go?

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How does energy efficiency go?

By 2050, global energy demand is expected to double. The networks and current production will not be able to support this load without a profound change in the way we consume, which involves in particular a increased energy efficiency.

To fully understand the challenges of energy efficiency, it is first necessary to recall what “energy efficiency” is. The latter designates, in a given process, the ratio between the energy value produced and the energy value consumed. An efficiency of 100 % - without any energy loss - would be an ideal system

Electricity production for a nuclear power plant is, for example, around 33 % (up to 37 % on EPRs). That is to say that 33 % of the released energy is transformed into electrical energy intended for the network.

Energy efficiency is the total energy efficiency of a system. It results from the yield as a function of what the energy is going to be used for. The energy efficiency of a house will therefore concern heating, taking into account the energy efficiency of appliances, but also insulation, ventilation, etc.

Improving energy efficiency requires knowledge of consumption data, "Change management", the choice of construction materials and the implementation of intelligent systems.

Data and consumption improvement

Materials are not the only source of energy leakage in a building. The arrangement of devices and the use that staff make of radiators, air conditioning or elevators can be the source of significant overconsumption.

In a room housing servers, for example, air conditioning must be used to maintain the right temperature; however, the heat given off by these servers could be redirected in order to heat the building. Stimergy offers sanitary water heating plans thanks to the heat released by their servers and considers reducing consumption by two in this area.

New services are also offered by Bouygues energies Where Metron to allow, from a detailed analysis of the building data, to establish a costed and argued proposal for energy saving programs according to the recommendations of theAdeme. These programs can be social, material and / or logistical.

Change management

For more than a decade, we have made a habit of sorting our waste. It didn't happen overnight, and we learned, through the media, municipal announcements, etc. to make it a daily practice. This global process is called "change management" according to terminology borrowed from the field of management.

In order to raise awareness about energy efficiency and energy saving, it is necessary to explain, to show, to give examples. This concerns, for example, better use of energy saving light bulbs or computer standby; we can also learn about energy management software (we are thinking of Bnextenergy dashboard). These, coupled with a set of sensors placed in the building, provide all the energy and environmental information to the user for better expenditure management.

As we can see, the human aspect is an essential factor for the success of the energy transition. And the way we consume has a major impact on the network. But it is not necessary to modify or penalize its comfort to reduce the energy impact. Simple actions - such as keeping the heat constant at home or turning off the heating when ventilating a room - can reduce consumption. The installation of a thermostat could offer technological assistance to systematize this monitoring.

Energy performance and materials

Buildings represent 44 % of the energy consumed, ahead of transport (32 %) and industry (21 %). To find out the energy efficiency of a building, the Energy performance diagnostic requires an assessment of the building's energy consumption.

The energy saving certificates their mission is to improve the energy efficiency of the residential and tertiary building, transport, industry and network sectors.

The materials used obviously influence energy efficiency, by making it possible, for example, to limit energy leaks. The renovation of the home / building must therefore be done taking into account the most efficient materials, whether in thermal insulation, heat release, etc.

To help users establish an energy diagnosis of their home, the government has set up a site which, in collaboration with Ademe, provides samples of renovation sheets estimating costs and returns on investment (see example of this 1960 gas-heated building).

As for new constructions, they must be as energy efficient as possible and best suited to new technologies (renewable energies, thermostat, insulation, electric vehicles, etc.).

Smart devices

Once the building and its devices have been optimized and staff educated, energy efficiency can be further improved using smart devices. The latter, thanks to their dedicated algorithms and to more or less far-reaching communication networks, adapt their consumption to their environment and user behavior.

This is the case with thermostats: a "intelligent" system like Ween For example, it will record your position and your temperature preferences. He can then plan when and how to activate the home network to meet the user's comfort criteria.

Finally, we must mention the developments of the smart grid, this network whose energy efficiency is ensured by a computer "overlay" of artificial intelligence andhelp with the decision.