Building Energy Management System

A true building energy management system (BeMS) should holistically incorporate all elements of a smart home or building to maximise energy efficiency of both individual and collective parts.
Loxone as a solution for intelligent energy management not only integrates hardware – it also has a software layer designed to optimise every smart function and device in the building.

There are many “green technologies” that can be included in residential and commercial buildings – solar panels, smart thermostats, EV chargers, battery storage, etc. The issue is this: you can install all of these devices to make every room ‘smart’, but if none of these technologies are optimised, they won’t lower the carbon emission and the running costs of your buildings. A holistic solution is needed to truly optimise the saving.

Considering buildings are responsible for 59% of energy consumption in the UK, holistic energy management could reduce this significantly.

To achieve this, the main focus for any building management system is recording and visualising all energy production and consumption data. In order to picture and optimise all energy flows, we need a central control system: Loxone. This holistic solution connects all intelligent components of a building and ensures their energy performance is as efficient as possible, both individually and together.

How does automated energy management work with Loxone?

1. Recording and visualising all energy flows:

The first step is all about understanding your building’s energy usage. A Loxone system can help you measure and analyse the energy consumption of your building through the clear app interface. We need to know where the energy flows to, how much each component consumes and how much power the building produces.

There are powerful software features that enable integration with many different energy-related devices, such as solar panel inverters, battery storage, EV chargers, etc, and a Loxone installer can incorporate these into a holistic system to provide a clear overview of the current energy status of building operations at all times and enable targeted optimisation measures.

2. Reducing basic power consumption:

If you are looking for a building energy management system (BeMS), Loxone can be installed to reduce the base load by automatically switching off consumers that are not in use, and much more. It can also help to identify devices that are consuming a surprising amount of energy even when they are not being used – and you’ll be able to spot this in the Loxone App.

Once a Loxone system has been configured to monitor all the relevant energy data, the second step is to actively work at reducing your building’s baseline electricity consumption – this is the energy that keeps your building running day to day.

For example, in an office environment this could be automatically turning off printers and external monitors when no one is in the building – even though these devices may have their own standby setting, Step 1 would have identified that these are probably contributing to a lot of wasted energy as part of the building’s baseline consumption.

Even if the example of the office above had solar panels, without having a holistic approach to building energy management, the analysis of consumption and the subsequent efforts to reduce the baseload would have been completely overlooked.

3. Shifting energy consumption:

The Loxone system is very strategic when it comes to drawing energy from the grid. Once configured, it will help you shift your energy consumption peaks to times when energy is cheaper based on the spot market. Due to holistic monitoring and energy management, the system can prioritise and reschedule appliances in the most cost-effective and energy-efficient way. For example, it’s cheaper to charge electric cars or run the dishwasher during the night than in the early evening when the cost of electricity is at its highest.

Even better, energy usage will cost nothing if solar surplus power is available. If you connect your wallbox to a PV system, it charges your EV with reusable green energy by using solar power that’s not being used by other appliances. This process can be automated by the Loxone building management system, so you can minimise additional power consumption and maximise your cost savings without having to manually adjust anything after the installation is complete.

What makes the building energy management system (BeMS) from Loxone more efficient?

Our software makes all the difference

The Loxone Iceberg depicting 15% hardware and 85% software that make up the Loxone building energy management system

Loxone is often perceived as a hardware manufacturer – but our hardware products are just the tip of the iceberg. First and foremost, we create software. After all, 85% of our entire development effort goes into our software tools.

Only our exceptional free software can create a state-of-the-art, holistic energy management system with outstanding performance that makes significant energy saving possible.

Why is an integrated building energy management system important?

Low-impact buildings do not stop at integrating a plethora of energy-conscious technologies such as solar panels, inverters, battery storage and EV chargers. These on their own are not enough to achieve an energy-efficient building. Optimising these compontents as part of one holistic BeMS so they all work together through intelligent automation is the key.

Loxone is that intelligent system. The eHome2 project as part of Energy House 2.0, the Salford University development and working with Saint-Gobain is demonstrating exactly this. Our intelligent building management system is the perfect choice to maximise energy efficiency for commercial premises and smart homes.

Energy efficiency and indoor climate: optimised HVAC by Loxone

The integration of photovoltaic systems and intelligent EV charging into a building energy management system is just the first step to achieving comprehensive and efficient building operations. Identifying areas of high energy consumption and optimising those consumers is a priority. Did you know that 62% of energy consumption is used for heating in a single-family house? To achieve true energy efficiency and maximise cost savings, it’s necessary to integrate heating, cooling and ventilation into your intelligent home and building automation system. By Loxone controlling all aspects of the heating, cooling and ventilation in a building, you also save energy by not having these devices on at the same time as they are not designed to integrate directly with each other.

Buffer tank, water heating element and boiler

By integrating it into your building energy management system, the buffer cylinder can optimise energy consumption and maximise the use of renewable energy. The heating element plays an important role as a backup heat source, while the boiler receives instructions directly from the Loxone system on whether it needs to switch on or off and how to regulate the flow temperature. Optimising all 3 compoments as parts of the same heating system will achieve better energy efficiency than standalone solutions working together.

Heat pump

 

A heat pump integrated into a Loxone energy management system can be optimised via the most energy-efficient controls that operate based on various factors – outdoor or individual room temperature and the availability of cheaper dynamic tariffs, for example. In addition, Loxone’s forecast-based heating controls help with planning schedules based on weather data to ensure high energy efficiency and minimise operating costs – by only heating rooms when the temperature outside drops below 10°C for example.

Air conditioning

The energy efficiency of air conditioning systems can be increased by integrating them into the building energy management system. Prediction-based controls, for example, can be configured to activate the air conditioning unit based on weather forecasts and user behaviour. What’s more, presence-based operation with Loxone maximises user comfort, energy efficiency and cost savings all at the same time.

Ventilation

The Loxone system decides when and how intensely to ventilate an area based on various parameters such as room temperature, humidity and CO2 levels. This not only ensures optimal air quality, but also minimises energy loss by reducing unnecessary ventilation. Presence detection enables demand-oriented control of the ventilation system to achieve even more energy efficiency.

Find out more about operating zoned heating, cooling and ventilation in intelligent buildings as part of energy management and discover the Loxone HVAC product range.

Holistic energy management with intelligent lighting and multiroom audio

A holistic energy management system oversees the individual and the combined operation and performance of all smart components in an intelligent building. This includes lighting and multiroom audio.

Due to the reliable detection of presence and movement, the Loxone Presence Sensors form the basis for the automation of these important functions. Operating the lights and the music only at times and in rooms where people are present will optimise energy usage – no power will be wasted where it’s not needed, whether it’s an office with multiple meeting rooms or a smart home with no one working from home during the day.

Find out more about optimising the energy performance of intelligent lighting and multiroom audio with the Loxone BeMS.

Products for an efficient building energy management system
by Loxone

Loxone’s hardware and software are designed to work in perfect harmony to achieve a truly efficient BeMS. All of our products are developed with low energy consumption and optimised energy performance in mind. We also offer an extensive range of specific energy-saving and consumption monitoring devices and interfaces.

These energy facts
speak for themselves

25% reduction in heating and cooling costs in a 10,000 square foot office, 14,000 kWh energy savings in a Berkshire home – all this and more is possible with intelligent building automation from Loxone. Whether offices and business premises, private smart homes, residential buildings, hotels and restaurants or special applications, the Loxone BeMS will maximise energy efficiency to help save costs without compromising on convenience and comfort.

The smartest building in Europe

The Loxone Campus is probably the most intelligent building in Europe. It combines a hotel, restaurant, seminar centre, event location, office, warehouse, wellness centre; showcasing a world of experience for home and building automation. Every area in the Campus requires energy, and with Loxone, a comprehensive energy management system can be achieved even in a building this large using just a few smart components and the strategic optimisation of their performance based on data.

The new Loxone UK office in Theale with an optimised building energy management system
25% reduction in heating and cooling costs in a 10,000 square foot office

Using only a few pieces of hardware from the Loxone range, the office immediately had a reduction in energy usage, resulting in an average saving of 25% on costs. On average, they used 1500 fewer units of electricity each month – which, at a rate of 45.05p per unit, cut over £675 off the monthly energy bill. The approximate hardware and estimated labour cost of two days for this installation was £2750. With a saving of £675 per month, that gives a return on investment after only 4 months.

25% reduction in heating and cooling costs in a 10,000 square foot office

Using only a few pieces of hardware from the Loxone range, the office immediately had a reduction in energy usage, resulting in an average saving of 25% on costs. On average, they used 1500 fewer units of electricity each month – which, at a rate of 45.05p per unit, cut over £675 off the monthly energy bill. The approximate hardware and estimated labour cost of two days for this installation was £2750. With a saving of £675 per month, that gives a return on investment after only 4 months.

The new Loxone UK office in Theale with an optimised building energy management system
A family home with its lights on at night equipped with a Loxone BeMS installation
Energy-efficient Berkshire home

The numbers say it all with an average energy saving of 58.6% compared to pre-renovation and installation. An even more impressive representation of lowered energy usage has come in the second half of 2022, using just over 2,500 kWh. This reduction is incredible compared to the average house, with a potential annual saving of 12,000-16,000 kWh a year compared to British Gas’ average 5-bed house numbers, which in turn saves money and reduces the carbon footprint of the home. This provides real insight into how effective Loxone is as an energy management solution.

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