Identifying potential energy savings with IoT and forecasting

Identifying potential energy savings with IoT and forecasting

Business need

Optimized building efficiency
In 2022, the municipalities of Syddjurs, Aarhus, and Favrskov joined a GovTech Midtjylland project together. They wanted to investigate how IoT sensors together with AI could be used to optimize the energy consumption in their schools.

Buildings alone account for around 40% of energy consumption in the EU. And with schools making up a large part of the municipalities’ building stock, they hold a lot of potential for energy reductions.

Pernille Thorsen, Team Leader from GovTech Midtjylland explains: “We had an interest in learning more. How does our data interact? Is there more to learn from them? And what are the biggest energy informants, that we can fix now?”

Utilizing modern technology
To produce valuable insights, gathering data on behavior through IoT sensors was essential. Additionally, they required expertise in IoT, AI, and data science to compile, enrich, and analyze the numbers.

That’s why, in 2022, GovTech Midtjylland started looking for a partner that could assist them with technological know-how – and they found that NTT DATA was the perfect match. In 2022, they started developing the solution, and in 2023 it was ready to go live.

Solution

A practical and scalable platform
Based on their Momenttum platform, NTT DATA built a dashboard that processes the inputs from the booking system, facility management, heating and power consumption, the weather, and IoT sensors in all classrooms.

“The tool clearly illustrates the potential savings, proving the necessity of optimizing,” says Henrik Bojsen, Team Leader in the Municipality of Syddjurs. As an AI algorithm translates the data into actual expenses, schools can see exactly where to find the most important savings.

The readings and calculations are compiled and updated daily in an easy-to-read dashboard. By making sure the platform is flexible and intuitive to use, it can easily be utilized by other municipalities varying widely in size and level of digitization.

Grounded in reality
Through workshops and close dialogue, GovTech Midtjylland and NTT DATA established which drivers could provide the energy consultants with the most useful insights. As an example, the schools had a good grasp of how their building was used within school hours, but after that the picture became blurry.

And as the heating and ventilation systems are all time-controlled, they are highly dependent on accurate room bookings. By tracking attendance for room bookings using CO2 sensors, the platform can measure passive consumption that could be eliminated.

Outcome

Putting data behind actions
With a platform that provides potential savings, energy consultants gain data that can be directly converted into actions. This means that the schools can go from basing decisions on an intuitive understanding of their data, to a forecasting based on data that provide tangible arguments.

Future potential
GovTech Midtjylland’s members have been very pleased with the collaboration and are excited to see the solution expand in the future. Henrik Bojsen states: “NTT DATA did a really good job of decoding our needs. We were all at very different starting points and NTT DATA quickly managed to give us a common language.”

With the new EU directive demanding all countries to cut the energy consumption in public buildings with 1,9% annually, the solution is already proving it’s worth. According to GovTech Midtjylland’s report “Optimized building use with AI” from 2023* , if it were to be utilized nationally in its current form, all schools would be able to save 34,966 DKK on average. Altogether, this equals 37 million DKK or 1 million kg of CO2e reductions as per a potential assessment from 2023**.

While the project officially ends in June 2024, the positive results are indeed motivational. With further development, version 2.0 holds even greater potential, estimated to identify another 107 million worth of energy savings.

* https://govtechmidtjylland.dk/media/hpnjrmxw/rapport-optimeret-bygningsanvendelse-med-ai.pdf, page 17
** https://govtechmidtjylland.dk/media/cn1l1h5a/bilag-4-potentialevurdering.pdf, page 4