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Trial of ecoBuilding helps VIVES University College

Buildings
ecoBuilding
Sustainability
27 July 2022

When you think of Flanders, you think of beautiful historical towns, culture, gastronomy and conviviality. But Flanders has more to offer than the Burgundian life alone: if you want to study, Flanders is also the place to be. There are several educational institutions, universities and colleges.

Smart Energy Management

"In my opinion, the key to success is smart management of your energy flows. That is only possible with a smart building management system. I have that conviction after fifteen years in the business. At VIVES, we have been working with a standard norm for managing our BMS systems since 2016. In a nutshell, this means that our systems must be as smart as possible because by doing so, you gain a lot in efficiency, make data transparent and save costs. In the meantime, more than eighty per cent of all our BMS systems meet this standard", says Guy. 

ecoBuilding 

"Since we base our standard on Priva, we started early 2020 with version 1.3 of our standard GBS management, an update of version 1.2. The most important adjustment to this standard is the introduction of ecoBuilding, with which we are doing a pilot carried out by Priva's Flemish installation partner Cenergie. ecoBuilding is a complex and computationally powerful application that, from a control technology perspective, makes dynamic control possible that was not possible before. The nice thing is that we could also easily implement ecoBuilding in one of our existing BMS systems as a trial". 

Priva Growth Lab

Data analysis from ErbisOne  

Guy continues: "ecoBuilding is not the only system we use. We also use ErbisOne: a system that collects data from all data sources contributing to understanding the energy flows. Every day our telemetry network transmits 15,000 pieces of data to our grid and Cloud connections. Evaluations of this data can lead to new energy efficiency projects. Through data analysis from ErbisOne, among others, and the implementation of new projects, we have already achieved between twenty and twenty-five per cent in energy efficiency with our BMS systems".

What are the expectations for the future?

"If the trial goes well, ecoBuilding will reduce the energy consumption of our building management systems and the energy bill. From a social and climate point of view, this is very important. We now consume about fifteen GW of energy on an annual basis. As a university, we have a role to play in society, including using energy wisely. Especially now, when energy is becoming more expensive and raw materials scarcer." 

Guy laughs: "Finally, of course, I also want to avoid building managers coming to me to complain about the temperature in the building. That's another way ecoBuilding can help me...".