ENERGY TRANSITION
Valuable data exists, but it sits in silos. I often compare it to trying to have a conversation where everyone speaks a different language. The challenge is helping different technologies work together in a way that creates meaningful operational value.
This is why open standards and interoperability have become so important, because building owners need the freedom to evolve their buildings over time, rather than being locked into a single technology pathway.
The most adaptable buildings are not necessarily the newest buildings. They are the buildings where systems can communicate, evolve, and integrate over time.
Q. HOW IS ABB DESIGNING ITS BUILDING AUTOMATION AND ELECTRIFICATION HARDWARE TO ENSURE IT DOESN’ T BECOME OBSOLETE IN FIVE TO 10 YEARS?
» Lifecycle design starts with a simple principle: customers should not have to start over every time technology evolves.
We focus heavily on interoperability, scalability and open architectures. This means creating systems that can accommodate future upgrades rather than requiring complete replacement.
Buildings have much longer lifecycles than most technologies. A building may operate for 50 years or more. Technology evolves far faster than that. Our responsibility is to bridge those different timelines.
In practice, lifecycle design means making it easier to
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modernise incrementally, integrate new capabilities over time and extend the useful life of existing infrastructure. Lifecycle design is protecting the investments building owners make today while giving them the flexibility to adapt tomorrow.
Q. WHICH TECHNOLOGY AREA OF THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT IS LAGGING THE FURTHEST BEHIND IN ADAPTABILITY AND WHICH IS LEADING?
» The area that continues to lag is deep retrofit. Across the EU, deep renovations that cut energy use by 60 % or more are carried out on just 0.2 % of the building stock each year.
The leading area is electrification. We are seeing enormous momentum around electrified buildings, energy management and digital energy infrastructure.
Building owners increasingly recognise that energy flexibility is becoming a strategic capability, not simply an operational concern. The challenge now is ensuring that progress in electrification is matched by equal progress in upgrading the buildings themselves.
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The EU’ s annual deep renovation rate
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