Smart Buildings: The Key to Post-Pandemic Recovery

As the first signs of the end of the COVID-19 pandemic are starting to appear, city governments worldwide are looking to accelerate an economic recovery from COVID-19 that enables people to get back to work, while preventing climate breakdown from becoming an even bigger crisis.

One solution these bodies are looking into is investing COVID stimulus funds in green solutions that would halt the climate crisis and deliver much faster economic recovery. Better buildings provide a solution to many of the problems facing cities: cutting emissions, saving costs and improving quality of life for residents. What's more, large-scale programmes to retrofit existing buildings have huge potential to create good, secure jobs.

The quality of a building's indoor environment can significantly impact our physical and mental health, well-being and economic productivity; poor air quality, temperatures that are too hot or too cold, and mould and damp are damaging to health, exposing us to more risk. Energy-inefficient buildings also increase the cost of maintaining healthy comfort levels, with the burden falling especially hard on low-income residents and businesses already recovering from the impacts of COVID-19.

Improving buildings is also a means for cities to dramatically cut their emissions. Worldwide, buildings account for 40% of CO2 emissions and offer the greatest and lowest-cost potential for reducing them. In fact, 58% of the carbon-abatement potential for reducing urban emissions can be attributed to the buildings sector.

Retrofit of buildings in cities should focus on reducing the consumption of energy and installing battery storage and renewables, which will serve both to reduce emissions from buildings and lower utility bills. By prioritizing the retrofit of existing buildings, cities can reduce the need for new construction, avoiding emissions related to the production and transportation of new building materials.

HeatingSave — the building management system (BMS) of choice for retrofit projects

Energy management systems might represent a sizeable investment for any household, but the rapidly rising energy prices can actually deliver a very rapid return on investment, experts in the field have argued.

Home owners who are serious about slashing their energy bills will need to consider retrofitting their premises in some way, whether we're talking about putting in renewable energy measures or more complex Building Energy Management Systems.

An energy management and monitoring system can help households stay on top of their energy usage and reduce their overall bills by running their light/heating systems in an optimum manner.

If you'd like to find out just how easy it is for you to reduce spending, cut carbon emissions and save in excess of 30% on your energy bills, then contact us, and we'll be more than happy to provide you all the necessary information.