In the last years the housing sector has been increasingly identified as a major energy consumer, in many cases with large inefficiencies. In most countries new programs and standards are being introduced with the goal of raising energy efficiency in the housing sector. New EU Directives have been issued with the goal of lowering the energy consumption in buildings.
The first step towards energy efficiency for a building is to track its real consumption. Today, this is done only at long intervals and mainly for billing purposes. With a «smart» metering approach it is possible to record the consumption of several energy carriers at short intervals, e.g., once every hour. By linking these data with ambient conditions, in first place the external air temperature, the real energy load of a building can be determined. This is a very important step forward, compared to the customary approach of assessments on the basis of theoretical audits only. In this way the meter becomes the central tool in the evaluation of energy consumption, and then to show the effect of energy efficiency measures.
In solutions for the housing and communal services the «KIPP-2M» smart meter operates as a controller for the collection of data from other meters and the transmission of bundled consumption data to a central server on a common communication channel. In this way overall costs are reduced in comparison with different communication controllers and communication channels for each energy carrier. The main advantage of this solution, however, is the provision of an integrated dataset, in the first place for the complex assessment of the consumption for different energy carriers.
In several countries multi-apartment buildings are owned and managed by the dwellers, directly or via a service company. Other housing complexes are run by municipal companies. In both cases, these service companies or organizations can use the reported consumption data both for the short-term evaluation of the building operation and the long-term assessment of the type and impact of energy efficiency measures.
