Demand for building automation tools up as UAE’s Net Zero vision on track
- 04 Oct 2023
Staff Reporter, Gulf today
With COP28 slated to take place in Dubai next month where countries will come together to deliberate on energy efficiency improvements, discussions around sustainability and climate change are picking up pace. The UAE’s Net Zero by 2050 vision, though an ambitious one, can be achieved only if every industry rallies to make it happen, with the real estate industry playing a big role.
The built environment generates 40% of annual global CO2 emissions. Of those total emissions, building operations are responsible for 27% annually. Buildings consume over 35% of all generated energy and 60% of the electricity that is generated. Add to this the fact that 30% of the energy used in a building is wasted.
Proptech firm Facilio’s CEO Prabhu Ramachandran during an exclusive interview with Gulf Today said, “There is still a lack of clarity in the real estate industry about where to start and how to go about decarbonising the existing stock of buildings. This is where building automation comes into the picture. Software is the low-hanging, cost-effective, and long term solution to not just improve the energy efficiencies of buildings but also to cut carbon emissions. AI and automation are enhancing maintenance operations, while advanced data analytics are aiding in data-driven decision-making.
"We are seeing a broader demand for technology products that unifies the power of building automation software and enterprise O&M applications in a single platform. Real estate owners and operators are also seeing value in making the transition from legacy computer-aided facilities management (CaFM) to modern, connected CaFM, as they want to see systems, processes, and people through a single unified lens.”
A Connected CaFM platform can play the role of a central hub for facility operations and serves as a good starting point for making sustainability a habit among enterprises looking to progress quickly in their decarbonisation journey. But the key is to move away from legacy CaFM systems to a unified platform that can act as a system of action rather than just a system of records.
A modern connected CaFM has become a strategic tool for both the field service and the board-level teams, which can help provide a better tenant experience, improving the asset life cycle and energy efficiency.
Prabhu said, “The Middle East is a critical market for us, within which UAE, KSA and Qatar are where the majority of our customers are based - spread across commercial offices, residential, healthcare, hospitality & retail.
Combining IoT-led monitoring with operations and maintenance in a single platform, facility managers can realize untapped value of energy efficiency and accelerate their journey towards net zero.
Committed to UAE’s ‘Net Zero by 2050’ vision, the Dubai World Trade Center (DWTC) has been working on consolidating the foundations for a low-carbon economy. But the lack of real-time insights and siloed systems were major hurdles that were slowing them down and resulting in penalties, high energy consumption, and unplanned downtime. They needed a centralized, AI and IoT-powered property management solution to optimize energy programs at a portfolio scale.
The Dubai World Trade Center identified 8 per cent energy wastage three weeks after implementing Facilio’s platform, representing potential savings of Dhs500,000 annually.
By leveraging the power of IoT, Facilio became a one-stop shop for DWTC to optimize their energy programs across their entire portfolio of buildings, enabling them to achieve operational efficiency, sustainability, and enhanced occupant experience.