The Impact Imperative: Accelerating Building Decarbonization through Digitization

This article is part of a series highlighting how Schneider Electric is empowering and collaborating with the ecosystem to amplify impact for a more resilient, efficient and sustainable Hong Kong. Meet the Impact Makers here.

Our city’s digital transformation towards a more sustainable future must be powered by partnerships. Here’s how Schneider Electric is driving an accelerated path towards sustainability through automation, electrification and digitization – and collaborative action with the Impact Makers.

Accelerating decarbonization: The pivotal role of our built environment

With Hong Kong experiencing its hottest summers on record, the urgency for decarbonization has never been clearer. As companies and institutions continue to advance their decarbonization agendas, the role of buildings has emerged as a critical lever for driving progress. Responsible for 90% of the city’s electricity consumption and 60% of carbon emissions, the built environment is undergoing a fundamental transformation to help meet Hong Kong’s ambition of cutting emissions in half from 2005 levels by 2035. Innovative strategies and technologies that maximize the decarbonization potential of buildings will be essential to expedite this transition.

Notably, 70% of building-based emissions result from the operational phase, such as HVAC, lighting and equipment usage. This is where digitization comes in – to provide visibility on energy usage patterns and anomalies, advanced insights into energy and carbon savings opportunities, and improved efficiency and reliability with modern energy management systems.

World-class technology for energy and emissions management

Schneider Electric, the leader in the digital transformation of energy management and automation, offers a wide range of smart devices, software, apps, analytics and services to make visible the invisible – allowing building owners, facility personnel and stakeholders to see and monitor how energy is deployed in buildings, in turn driving efficiency and addressing a huge amount of untapped potential for energy and emissions savings.

EcoStruxureTM Energy Hub provides a simple and effective energy management system that delivers live insights into buildings' energy infrastructures within hours of deployment, creating energy accountability for enhancing operational efficiency, and helping reduce energy spend by up to 30% – without the high upfront costs of a customized on-premise solution with heavy IT infrastructure requirements.

For larger buildings and power-critical, energy-intensive operations, EcoStruxure Power Monitoring Expert helps prevent performance degradation with predictive maintenance services, maximizing uptime to ensure reliable power network and equipment operation. Powered by advanced algorithms and expert analysis, EcoStruxure Power Advisor finds and prioritizes electrical issues impacting system performance, and recommends ways to resolve them, serving as a window into the health of electrical distribution networks to enable better decision making.

Empowering Impact Makers to turn ambition into action

A shared commitment to sustainability can inspire real estate professionals to forge partnerships to identify energy optimization opportunities, and realize the impact of efficiency improvements for the decarbonization of Hong Kong’s built environment. By integrating smart devices and analytics, they can obtain granular insights to guide decisions, from equipment upgrades to behavior change – unlocking win-win outcomes.

Schneider Electric is privileged to support the Impact Makers – our allies and ambassadors who are making a positive impact on society and the environment through technology and innovation. Together, we can leverage the power of connected infrastructure to create a more sustainable, resilient, efficient and people-centric urban landscape in Hong Kong.