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PROPERTY FUNDS WORLD Special Report Nov 2016 www.propertyfundsworld.com | 5
SIEMENS MARKET INSIGHT
reducing the energy consumption of the
building,” explains Sidler.
Not all improvement measures are made
equal
Broadly speaking, Siemens provides energy
and sustainability services to lower the
energy consumption, supply costs and CO
2
emissions for single real estate, as well as
real estate portfolios held by institutional real
estate investors. These services are provided
on two levels.
Firstly, Siemens helps clients define a
strategy and set goals for their real estate
energy and sustainability improvements.
Secondly, Siemens provides performance
services that are targeted more at
institutional real estate owners who wish
to create value by improving the energy
performance and sustainability of real
estate assets.
Strategy alone does not create impact.
Rather, to create impact one needs to put
things into practice.
As Jonas Fluri, Head of Portfolio and
Strategy for Building Performance and
Sustainability (BPS), Siemens Building
Technologies, explains: “That’s what
performance services help our clients do.
Our experts assess the actions that need to
be done and help the customer put the right
strategy into practice.
“For institutional real estate investors,
our advisory and performance services
help to increase the value of their RE
portfolio and maximise returns for their end
investors. Whereas for corporate real estate,
the customers are focused on lowering
operational costs, including energy costs,
the institutional real estate customers are
Siemens will often devise an energy
efficiency programme based on the following
tiered system:
• Tier 1 – the worst performing (largest)
buildings. Siemens engineers will go on
site and do an energy audit to come up
with an energy efficiency proposal to
improve the energy and cost performance
of the building.
• Tier 2 – overall energy consumption of the
buildings is not significant but by applying
control strategies, the facility can be run in
a more optimal way.
• Tier 3 – small buildings that have a low
energy consumption.
According to Sidler, the more complex the
building is, the more Siemens can optimise it.
“When we do optimisation, the overall
target that should be achievable is a 10%
reduction in CO
2. The more investment, the
more we can potentially reduce emissions
by 20%, 30% or higher, depending on the
building.
“In Switzerland there is an LEED Platinum
rated building. It also has the Swiss
Minergie-ECO certificate. At the time, the
client asked us if we could optimise the
comfort of the building. Not only did we
achieve this, we also decreased electricity
consumption by 15%,” confirms Sidler.
This particular building is connected to the
Siemens Operation Center in Steinhausen
(canton of Zug), where Siemens service
experts monitor the energy consumption
of client buildings online in near real-time,
receiving data every 15 minutes.
“We cannot optimise any building if we
cannot see what is happening; the more
complex the building, the more likely it will
be connected to the Operation Center,”
adds Sidler.
It is not only optimisation programmes that
Siemens can offer its clients, but also better
system or infrastructure capacity planning.
Sidler explains that for one particular client,
Siemens engaged in a specific re-cooling
project. This involved replacing one of the
four cooling machines with a green cooling
machine that uses the latest technology.
“Now, the other three cooling machines
are on standby. In the autumn and winter,
the new system we installed uses cold air
from outside to cool down the whole building
instead of relying on four machines; hence
“When we do optimisation, the
overall target that should be
achievable is a 10% reduction
in CO
2. The more investment,
the more we can potentially
reduce emissions by 20%,
30% or higher, depending on
the building."
Hansjörg Sidler, Siemens