Transparency for climate protection

AN INTERVIEW WITH THOMAS AHLBORN AND NORMAN MERTEN

Europe wants to be climate-neutral by 2050. The EU is setting the target with ambitious climate legislation. We are taking on this challenge for the building sector.

Technical solutions from beyonnex will make a decisive contribution to successfully mastering this marathon. Thomas Ahlborn and Norman Merten explain the forces that these technologies can unleash, the role that the human factor plays in this – and how the EU has set the regulatory framework for this.

The housing industry is facing major challenges in order to achieve the ambitious European and national climate targets. How can consumption transparency help?

Merten: In addition to controlling consumption via smart thermostats, we can also utilise the steering effect of costs. Studies have shown that people behave more economically when they have to pay for their own consumption at the end of the year. This is why Germany has had heating cost regulations for apartment blocks since the 1980s. Back then, in the wake of the energy crisis of the 1970s, the aim was to save energy. With the introduction of the in-year consumption information, the legislator is pursuing similar goals. The in-year consumption information provides tenants with interim data on their energy consumption. This allows them to regularly monitor and adjust their consumption. This creates greater awareness of their own consumption and motivates them to adopt more sustainable behaviour. Ultimately, this leads to a reduction in CO₂ emissions and energy costs.

Ahlborn: If we look at this topic from our corporate perspective: The companies in the noventic group – and therefore also beyonnex – are deeply rooted in the property industry. We know the challenges and necessities that go hand in hand with professional property management. Our efficiency solutions therefore focus not only on consumption control but also on creating consumption transparency. When we take a bird’s eye view of climate protection in the housing industry, we add the human factor to the traditional focus on building physics – i. e. insulation – and energy technology. Only by involving people can we counteract the so-called rebound effect. A study*https://noventic.com/en/magazine/mieter-studie by Prof Dr Andreas Pfnür from TU Darmstadt has clearly shown that tenants have recognised this lever and are willing to use it.

What exactly are the key messages of this study in connection with consumption transparency and consumption behaviour?

Ahlborn: Two points are particularly interesting. Firstly, the figures show that tenant households are demanding intelligent systems for active consumption control – primarily with the aim of reducing their own energy costs. Tenants recognise that they play a central role in climate protection and that housing companies alone cannot implement climate protection in the building sector. Secondly, we can formulate the core thesis that the majority of households are demanding significantly more meaningful and more timely consumption information – in other words, they have recognised that it is difficult to record a lot and a little heating in everyday life without translating it into figures. The will to participate is there.

Merten: To add another aspect: In my view, it is also interesting that two thirds of those surveyed would even leave the control of their heating to the technology. Provided that costs can be saved and the desired living comfort is guaranteed. And that the technology is easy to operate. A very exciting statement for us at beyonnex.

We have talked about consumption transparency and the legal obligation to provide households in apartment blocks with in-year consumption information during the year. What is beyonnex’s approach to this?

Merten: We have teams for platform technology, radio infrastructure and data management. And we have teams that focus on developing solutions that link people and technology. A light, stable UX is fundamental to the success of our solutions. After all, we are talking about a cross-section of the population here, not digitally savvy smart home fans.

As soon as the users are on our app, the next huge challenges await us. Two examples. Firstly, people follow routines and traditions in everyday life – including when it comes to heating. But it is precisely these that we want to change in the interests of greater efficiency – and that can only be done step by step. Secondly, we need to measure the heating of living spaces and give it a tangible, understandable form for everyone in all dimensions. The tools for this are the elements of consumption and cost information, feedback and comparison as well as gamification techniques.

What is your experience with apps for tenant?

Merten: Tenant apps have a difficult time for the reasons mentioned above. A survey on the use of tenant apps by ‘Analyse & Konzepte immo.consult GmbH’ has once again clearly confirmed this: Only one in ten tenants uses a tenant app. We are performing above average with our rate [laughs]. But, despite everything, even if every second tenant uses our app, there is still plenty of room for improvement.

Ahlborn: We face a very specific challenge here: most of the people who are supposed to use our solutions have not asked for them. Let’s take another of our products as an example: smart thermostats for apartment blocks. A housing company installs these throughout a building, for example due to adaptive hydronic balancing. The households in the building can of course also use these thermostats without an app – and only benefit from the assistance functions running in the background, like the lane departure warning system in a car. In addition to hydronic balancing, this could include digital window-open detection, for example. However, to fully utilise the efficiency and comfort functions, the household must activate and use the bxHome app.

From a product development perspective, we are faced with a completely different task here than when developing a smart home product: a smart home enthusiast equips their family home and convinces all family members with intrinsic enthusiasm [laughs] ... Here, in rented apartment blocks, we usually lack smart home enthusiasts and the product is installed in households that are far removed from the digital world. These basic requirements are always the same in apartment blocks. Whether it’s smart thermostats or solutions for consumption information.