Eubac
eu.bac – the European Building Automation and Controls Association – is a Brussels-based European industry platform in the sectors Home Controls, Building Automation and Energy Services for Buildings and represents 25 companies. Eu.bac was founded in 2003 and is not a partnership of associations and only allows direct company membership. The association has offices in Brussels, London, Paris and Frankfurt.[1]
The member companies' activities are focused on energy controls, building automation components and systems used in homes as well as in non-residential buildings.[2] Besides self-acting efficient energy controls, ICT – Information and Communications Technology is the core of building automation and controls within a building that enables monitoring, regulation, automation to reduce the energy consumption. Energy efficiency is – besides comfort issues – the major target of employing building automation and home controls.[3]
Within eu.bac, eu.ESCO works in the field of energy services. Energy service companies (ESCOs) with one leg in building automation and controls are the major contributors to this group of eu.bac members. eu.ESCO works with its own logo and its own identity to differentiate from the core business of eu.bac which is more in the field of hardware, software and systems for Building Automation.
Elected President of eu.bac is Jean-Yves Blanc (Schneider Electric). Vice Presidents are Ernst Malcherek (Honeywell),and Dr. Gerhard Glinzerer (Herz Armaturen).
eu.bac set up the European marking scheme eu.bac Certification for energy efficient products in the range of home controls and building automation e.g. Electronic Radiator Thermostats, Room Thermostats,Heating controllers (OTC), Individual Zone Controllers (IZC), etcetera.... The certification Mark is requested in France by the Réglementation Thermique since RT 2005. The delivered Control Accuracy value CA is needed to calculate the energy demand of buildings.
In addition eu.bac set up an Energy Efficiency Label for Home Controls and Building Automation Products. This voluntary energy labelling scheme complements the European certification scheme and introduces a simple and market-orientated energy efficiency labelling system under the scope of eu.bac.
For Building Automation and Controls Systems – BACS, eu.bac set up the Certification Scheme for Energy Efficiency Performance of BACS at delivery and during the lifetime. Except of this system, there are no reliable standards to assist building owners to ensure that a new building being built, or an old building being refurbished, will have the best available BACS technology to save energy. Also there are no standards available to meet the difficult challenge of building owners to ensure that their building keeps performing as well, or better than when it was first commissioned. The closest match to meet these requirements is the EN 15232 standard (Energy performance of buildings – Impact of Building Automation, Controls and Building Management) which is the base of the eu.bac system audit. The System Certification Scheme of eu.bac is acknowledging the principal difficulty in the BACS industry that although a system may include extensive features and functionality in terms of energy saving measures, it may not be installed and used to its full potential. Functionality that is intrinsic to the system but that is not contracted is consequently not delivered, although it may be important for saving energy. It also recognizes the fact that systems have a tendency to deteriorate in terms of energy performance unless they are maintained properly. This is an inherent problem because of the analogue and mechanical nature of these systems.
The recast of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (2002/91/EC) hopes to reduce the total EU energy consumption by 5–6% (60–80 Mtoe) by 2020. The scope of the Directive has now been broadened to include all existing buildings undergoing renovation and not only those above 1000m2.
A way to achieve this reduction is through Building Automation and Controls Systems (BAC Systems).
BAC Systems monitor, optimise, interlock and control heating systems, air conditioning systems, cooling systems, lighting systems, blinds, fire and security systems, elevators, etcetera. Large complex de-located properties require links to the various technical building systems. Only through these links can energy be controlled, monitored and optimized.
BAC Systems and devices must comply with the standards set out by CEN/TC 247 and ISO/TC 205 (European & International Standardization Groups).
References
- ↑ Görsch, Sabrina. "eubac.org". www.eubac.org. Retrieved 2016-03-31.
- ↑ "Efficiency Valuation Organization".
- ↑ Systemadministrator. "eubac.org". www.eubac.org. Retrieved 2016-03-31.
External links
- eu.bac Association
- eu.bac Certification and Labelling Management System
- eu.ESCO Association of Energy Services Companies
- EU Directorate-General for Energy and Transportation
- BUILD UP - The European Portal For Energy Efficiency In Buildings
- BUILD UP - Article for Building Automation