In recent years there have been significant advances in both the technologies used at home and work, and in those designed to specifically help with energy management in all types of buildings. These advances can be broadly classified into four key trends:

1. Smart and wireless systems. The advances seen in the IT industry over the last 10-15 years are finally working their way into energy efficiency solutions for buildings and equipment. Networking and communications technologies are helping to reduce waste, improve efficiency and enable changes in behaviour. Or in some cases, such as more intelligent automation systems, taking the place of occupant behaviour changes.

The simplest example is lighting fixtures with integrated occupancy and/or daylight sensors. More advanced examples are lighting ballasts that can connect and talk to each other and to a central control system through a wireless mesh network. This type of system provides true plug-and-play capabilities, where luminaires can simply be installed or relocated and they will determine for themselves where they are and how they should function in relation to that location.

As end-use equipment, such as chillers or lighting, becomes more efficient, these automated and adaptive control systems will be the key to even greater reductions in energy use. These advances are transforming everything from building controls to the electricity grid itself, and soon even appliances will have similar capabilities.

2. Net zero energy buildings. The movement now is beyond simply reducing energy use in buildings to having buildings that produce energy and contribute it back to the grid. Renewable energy sources and on-site generation will contribute to a more distributed energy model, where individual buildings and sites are more active participants in the energy system. The development of energy storage capabilities will enable this type of interaction so that individual customers can decide when to buy from the grid, when to store energy and when to supply it back to the grid based not just on the load but also on price, the availability of renewable sources or even the carbon content of grid energy.

As building codes continue to push performance higher and higher, and energy use lower and lower, net zero becomes ever more possible. The smaller loads can help reduce the cost of moving to renewable, on-site generation, making the net-zero option much more feasible.

3. Integration at larger scales. Where the talk used to be about integrated building design, now there is talk of integration at the neighbourhood (or even larger) scale. Taking a look at holistic or systems approaches to energy supply and demand at larger scales enables opportunities to link energy sources and energy loads across property lines. This includes opportunities for district energy systems, such as the sewer heat recovery plant in the Vancouver’s Olympic Village development, or just capturing waste heat from an adjacent building like the Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability (CIRS) building out on the University of B.C.’s Point Grey campus.

 4. The last trend is not about technology at all. It’s about people. A lot of stock and “hope” is put into new technologies. Although development of new and innovative technologies is certainly contributing to the advancements in energy efficiency and conservation, many technologies have been “emerging” for years, if not decades.

The challenge is to overcome the ingrained attitudes of designers, contractors, building inspectors, code officials, owners and users. This encompasses everything from changing individual behaviour to changing how decisions are made (at every level) to changing how energy is looked at in general. So really, this trend is about creating a culture of conservation.

Energy efficiency needs to be ingrained in every project from start to finish. Only in this way will energy use be truly transformed in the building industry and enable the development of policies and practices to allow the true “technology” based trends discussed above to flourish and gain mainstream acceptance and application.

The technology part is easy — it’s the people part that’s hard.

Jorge Marques has more than 20 years of experience in energy efficiency, sustainability and innovation. He currently leads the Advanced DSM Strategies team at BC Hydro Power Smart.