Environmental and Social monitoring in existing building structures – results of a case study within several historical buildings

Abstract

One year ago the European Union defined the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) directive to foster investment in sustainability. This directive asks for energy monitoring / optimization and actions to foster human well-being. To cover that demand especially historical buildings in Europe need solutions in these respects, to be more energy efficient and at the same time to safeguard the well-being of its users. These buildings have almost no building automation installed. So, the basic prerequisite to identify high energy consumers valid usage data is not available. For that, the following research questions have to be answered: Which data is necessary to reach both, the environmental and social goals? How can data be captured in a valid and efficient way? How can data be made available to optimize energy usage and well-being? To answer these questions, a literature research was executed to define the relevant parameters. Firstly, based on the results of that step and a previous mixed-methods-research project, the relevant tools and the IT architecture were defined. Secondly, based on the ESG-reporting demands, data structure and relevant building structures were defined. Thirdly, a case study was conducted, which is based on the previously defined IT architecture, using IoT measuring devices, two different databases and two analytic tools. As a result, this paper presents the final decision on the database and the analytics tool, based on the users’ interaction and feedback of the case study.