An international coalition of academic and industrial partners has been formed to create new ways to save operational energy costs and reduce the gap between predicted and actual energy performance in buildings.
The Tools for Continuous Building Performance Auditing (TOPAs) project, which will be led by Motorola Solutions, aims to create new ways for building owners, facility managers and energy service companies (ESCOs) to more effectively operate their sites. The project hopes to reduce the existing gap between predicted and actual energy performances in buildings and blocks of buildings to 10%.
TOPAs will develop an open, cloud based platform for continuous energy performance auditing and will monitor energy use, how buildings are used and the state of their environmental and air quality. It is hoped this will help building operators save up to 20% of their energy through better energy efficiency programmes, as well as contribute to existing and new standards.
Boris Kantsepolsky, business development manager for Motorola Solutions Israel and the project coordinator for TOPAs, said: “The TOPAs consortium will demonstrate how international collaboration can contribute to the improvement of environmental conditions on the planet, creating new business opportunities through the reduction of energy usage. By reducing costs and enhancing sustainability, the TOPAs encourage businesses to invest in positive social change that will make people’s lives better.”
TOPAs has been funded by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 programme, which offers nearly €80 billion of funding over seven years (2014 to 2020) for the purposes of research and innovation as a means of driving economic growth and job creation in Europe. It will link building performance models with operational Building Management Systems and measuring technologies to improve both the accuracy of the prediction models and the in-use performance of the buildings. It will then provide decision support tools for building and facilities managers, owners and ESCOs to more effectively manage their sites
Sharon Barak, director strategic business development for Motorola Solutions Israel, said: “The TOPAs consortium extends the prestigious H2020 research and innovation community, bringing together further academic and industrial experts to address a critical environmental issue. This collaborative effort will help address the untapped potential of energy efficiency solutions, with practical tools and new methods that can be positively exploited by businesses and communities throughout the European Union.”
TOPAs will be tested on three sites – two in Ireland and a third in France – consisting of blocks of commercial and public buildings to test its impact in an area where working business models for ESCOs are already established.
