6 MINUTES READ
In the world of energy efficiency and sustainability, we very rarely make decisions based on data. In a sector filled with experts and specialists, most decisions are made on gut feel and intuition. You may think because you use data in your decision-making process that you’re data-driven. But that’s not the same thing.Being truly data-driven means putting data at the heart of the decision-making process. It really comes down to a ‘data first’ approach instead of going by gut feel. It means constantly questioning your beliefs and assumptions to form new mental models. Referring back to the data time and time again and continually asking “Why?”.
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4 MINUTES READ
Energy efficiency has gone out of fashion. A quick check of Google trends will confirm this. A 15 year-long steady decline in search volume. But why?
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4 MINUTES READ
Last week I shared a blog post about why I believe energy waste during non-operational hours is one of the most easily avoided forms of waste in buildings. This week, I’m deep-diving into the 4 step process to identifying energy waste during non-operational hours across your portfolio of buildings.
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4 MINUTES READ
This is the first of a series of blog posts on the most effective forms of energy analysis that can be used to identify energy-saving opportunities. Energy data is an underused resource in building optimisation, as businesses often rush to invest large amounts of money in projects with long and unpredictable ROIs. Proper analysis of a building’s energy data can uncover a vast amount of opportunity to improve efficiency at often very little cost.
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5 MINUTES READ
Degree days are the most underused performance metrics in energy data analysis. Simultaneously, they are widely misunderstood and therefore misused.Weather conditions are the most influential factor when it comes to the variability of energy use in buildings. Even in a moderate climate such as the UK’s, changes in the requirement for heating and cooling typically accounts for 50%-70% of the variation in usage over the course of a typical year. In other words, regardless of everything else that’s going on inside or outside our buildings, changes in weather account for nearly all fluctuations we see day to day, week to week or month to month. If you’re not going to use degree days for your energy data analysis, then you may as well be blindfolded. It would be like going on a diet but not tracking how much you eat.
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3 MINUTES READ
There is very little doubt surrounding the fundamental role that energy efficiency plays in the success of commercial real estate making a return once the world reaches somewhere close to normal. Whether you refer to it as sustainability, energy efficiency or building optimisation, the need for us all to ‘run buildings better’ is increasing exponentially.There will be an understandable emphasis placed on healthy workplaces in the coming months but that can’t be at the expense of a building's buildings carbon footprint. Equally, businesses must do what they can to minimise excessive operational costs after months with little, or no revenue. With running costs associated with electricity, gas and water constituting up to 50% of a commercial building operating costs, efficiency measures are a viable cost-saving measure, but this can’t be at the expense of occupant well being. You see where I’m going with this…The three underlying driving factors of building optimisation are:
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3 MINUTES READ
Data-driven insights from Internet of Things (IoT) devices are enabling energy and sustainability experts to make better-informed decisions like never before. Energy use within buildings is inherently variable, and until recently, even the brightest minds were in the dark when it came to explaining fluctuations in usage, due to the long list of factors that can cause a building’s energy usage to change seemingly at random. Having a fundamental understanding of how a building uses energy and what causes it to change is essential to optimising performance in the long term.
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4 MINUTES READ
Every experienced energy and sustainability professional who reads this blog, knows of course, that the first step of implementing energy management solutions, is acquisition of the building consumption data. This process, involves cooperation between different industry groups, and can often be long, complicated and costly.In my last blog, I have shared my thoughts on why it is so important to access the right data when developing your Net Zero Carbon programme.Lets dive deeper into the challenging process of energy data acquisition, and discuss ways to make it easier, more effective and more cost efficient.
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4 MINUTES READ
Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, ESG topics were steadily making their way to the top of forward-thinking stakeholders’ agendas in commercial real estate. With the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak being felt across the sector and the world today, different views on how ESG performance would be prioritised in commercial real estate going forward in the immediate and the longer term are emerging. We thought this would be a good opportunity to share what we have been learning on the ground regarding ESG topics before and after the arrival of the COVID-19 outbreak, especially from our experience working and exchanging ideas with our partners and customers who are ESG practitioners in the field.
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4 MINUTES READ
The Committee on Climate Change ( CCC) advised in 2019, that the UK should be aiming for net zero emissions by 2045-2050 in order to be compatible with the1.5ºC Paris Agreement goal.Its recommendations were:For the UK, a new target: net-zero greenhouse gases by 2050 (up from the existing emissions reductions target of 80% from 1990 levels by 2050);For Scotland, a net-zero date of 2045, 'reflecting Scotland’s greater relative capacity to remove emissions than the UK as a whole';For Wales, a 95% reduction in greenhouse gases by 2050, reflecting it having 'less opportunity for CO2 storage and relatively high agricultural emissions that are hard to reduce'.But how to get there and why is it proving not to be so easy?
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5 MINUTES READ
39% - this is a figure the real estate sector knows well too well. And this must change.According the UN’s Global Status Report, the built environment makes up approximately 39% of the global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions. In order to be on track to meet global climate ambitions set forth in the Paris agreement, we need to see a 30% reduction by 2030. Global buildings sector energy demand rose 7% from 2010 to 2019, so drastic action is needed.
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2 MINUTES READ
In the context of GRESB 2020 submission deadline extended by 1 month (to August the 1st 2020) and with the help of the enhanced Fabriq GRESB module, real estate sustainability practitioners are well equipped to participate in this year's global benchmark reporting. As most sector experts know, GRESB announced at the 2019 results event that they had decided to bring a series of changes to 2020 reporting. So, what are the main changes for GRESB in 2020?
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3 MINUTES READ
If anyone was to tell me 3 weeks ago that the whole of world of work and play would be turned upside down due to an unseen global enemy, I would have strongly recommended they watched better sci-fi movies. Even by my film standards, that scenario made for a very unlikely narrative. Looking at the world now, the reality seems to beat the script. This Coronavirus crisis has hit all sectors of the economy - locally, regionally, globally - and impacted all of our lives in an unprecedented way.As a technology company, aiming to significantly reduce climate change by connecting and optimising the world’s buildings, I have tried to look at some positive aspects on how this crisis is impacting PropTech and the real estate sector at large:
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5 MINUTES READ
New Year, New ChallengeFabriq team members pushed themselves out of their respective comfort zones. Forget Veganuary! Team Fabriq challenged itself to complete a minimum of 7,500 steps by the end of the month. Quite fitting really, with the 2020 Olympics scheduled for later in the year."And why, why would team Fabriq plunge itself into this challenge?" I hear you ask. Well, as a famous celebrity once said "because we want to" but also the challenge served the purpose of emphasising general health and well-being and simply enjoying the outdoors more, in 2020. Oh, if you recognise the last quote, then you are wise beyond your years.
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3 MINUTES READ
It has been quite an eventful start to the year/decade for us at Fabriq to say the least, with our fearless founder Benjamin Kott passing on the CEO baton, leaving behind an incredible legacy of a leading edge product and a laudable culture.As many of you are already aware, while Ben is moving on...he's NOT moving out! He continues to be involved in providing direction for the company on business governance and strategy as a non-exec to Fabriq’s Board of Directors. With that said, while we miss having him around during our weekly team lunches (he did promise he would stop by whenever he could for his favourite fish and chips!), he will continue to play a pivotal role in shaping how Fabriq evolves as a purpose-driven company.
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