Gusts Kossovičs is the Deputy Managing Director and the new Head of Policy at eu.bac, the European Building Automation and Controls Association. He has a varied background in European affairs and construction management and has over three years of experience in the building automation and controls sector in particular. In his role at eu.bac, Gusts is responsible for leading eu.bac's policy team and developing and implementing the organisation's advocacy strategy.

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Hans Smid is the President of eu.bac. He currently holds the position of Vice-President of Digital Energy Belgium & the Netherlands Cluster at Schneider Electric and is an experienced leader. He has worked in the digitisation of the building and electrical engineering industry and has a background in engineering and Business Administration.

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BUILD UP (BUP): How are Building Automation and Control Systems (BACS) linked to enhanced indoor comfort and Indoor Air Quality (IAQ)?

GUSTS KOSSOVIČS (GK): All Technical Building Systems (TBS) must work together to ensure optimal IAQ and Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) more broadly. This includes lighting, acoustics, and thermal comfort. Building Automation and Controls Systems (BACS) are the nervous system and brains behind the different TBS, which sense, monitor, and regulate various indoor environmental factors, including temperature, humidity, ventilation, and air quality. This allows the building to maintain a healthy environment for occupants, regardless of the outdoor conditions. 

HANS SMID (HS): Exactly! To give some more practical examples, BACS can be used to:

• Monitor and control the temperature and humidity of individual rooms or zones within a building. This allows BACS to create a temperature profile that is tailored to the needs of the occupants in each space and maintain a comfortable indoor environment, as well as prevent mould growth.
• Monitor, control, and adjust the ventilation system in a building. This ensures that fresh outdoor air is being brought into the building and that the ventilation rate is adequately adjusted based on the occupancy of the building and the levels of pollutants in the indoor air.
• Control the lighting levels in a building. This helps create a comfortable and productive work environment for occupants as well as automatically dimming lights where not in use.
• Optimise IEQ more generally by identifying areas with persistent issues and proposing corrective actions such as repairing or changing deficient technical building systems. By automating the control of indoor environmental factors, BACS can help to create a healthy, comfortable, and productive environment for all occupants, while at the same time saving energy.

BUP: How are the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) and the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) regulating BACS and IAQ?

HS: The Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) and the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) are two critical pieces of EU legislation that regulate energy efficiency and building performance. They do not yet, however, explicitly set concrete requirements for IAQ. Nevertheless, they have an indirect effect by setting specific requirements for equipping large non-residential buildings with building automation and control systems, as well as requiring optimisation of technical building systems, including ventilation, to meet energy performance standards.

GK: Yes, absolutely, and while this is encouraging, we believe the EU must go a step further, as optimising thermal efficiency without ensuring optimum indoor environmental quality can have a detrimental impact on the health and comfort of the occupants. The revision of the EPBD must address the monitoring and control of specific indoor environmental quality indicators. If not addressed, we risk leaving our most vulnerable populations in thermally efficient but unhealthy buildings and homes.

Gusts Kossovičs: “The revision of the EPBD must address the monitoring and control of specific indoor environmental quality indicators”

BUP: What do you think will be the main opportunities for BACS and indoor environmental quality (IEQ) following the ongoing negotiations of the EPBD? Are there expected modifications in the EPBD revision?

HS: It should all start with monitoring and giving the building occupants the power to see their buildings' relevant indoor environmental quality indicators. Only by seeing and recognising the problem can we begin addressing it. Therefore, we have called on the co-legislators to include provisions in Article 11 on technical building systems of the revised EPBD requiring monitoring and controlling Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) parameters in certain buildings. The scope of buildings applicable can be discussed and debated. Nevertheless, the EU has to take the first step in order to ensure we do not sacrifice our citizen's health and well-being when renovating our buildings.  

BUP: eu.bac is the voice of European manufacturers operating in the building automation sector. What is eu.bac doing to increase the implementation of smart control systems to enhance IEQ and indoor comfort?

GK: Indeed, we are the voice of European manufacturers in this sector; therefore, we can draw upon the vast knowledge and technical expertise of our members to provide guidance and support to stakeholders on both the EU and national levels to properly implement the agreed requirements in order to enhance Indoor Environmental Quality, while at the same time increasing energy efficiency. We have done so following the previous revision of the EPBD by releasing guidelines for the transposition of the revised EPBD, commissioning a study on the Impact of the revision of the EPBD on energy savings from the use of BACS and publishing an EPBD BACS Compliance Verification Checklist, which has now also been translated into French and German and endorsed by the Commission. In anticipation of the upcoming deadline requiring large non-residential buildings to be equipped with BACS by 2025, we have actively promoted these tools with the national legislators, compliance authorities, TBS designers, installers and building owners. Looking at the ongoing revision of the EPBD, we have been actively calling for concrete measures directly addressing IEQ in buildings.

BUP: What is the level of implementation of BACS across EU Member States, and are there differences between countries? If yes, how is eu.bac acting to reduce those differences based on EU policies and directives?

HS: According to the 2018 EPBD, all non-residential buildings, existing and new, with an effective rated output > 290kW, must be equipped with certain BACS capabilities by 2025. These requirements are essential to achieve the EU climate goals, and the figures prove this; these measures alone could lead to annual savings corresponding to 14% of the total building primary energy consumption with €36 billion energy bill savings triggered and the value of energy savings exceeding the value of investments by a factor of 9. Unsurprisingly, the level of implementation of BACS varies across EU Member States. We see that countries like France were quick to transpose the measures and have now gone beyond the ambition initially set by the Commission with the latest décret BACS requiring smaller non-residential buildings to be equipped with the same BACS capabilities by 2027 as required for larger non-residential buildings by 2025. Furthermore, France clarified the ‘financial feasibility’ loophole by stating that such capabilities are economically feasible where the return on investment is less than 15 years. Additionally, we see countries like the Netherlands providing guidelines and checklists to the relevant stakeholders to ensure compliance with the new requirements. Meanwhile, many remain who have only transposed the 2018 EPBD on paper without engaging with stakeholders, closing loopholes, or preparing compliance mechanisms. Furthermore, some have not even fully transposed the requirements, which is extremely worrying.

Hans Smid: “Some EU Member States have not even fully transposed the requirements, which is extremely worrying”

GK: I agree. With the Directive having entered into force in May 2018 and the deadline for transposition expiring in March 2020, we cannot wait any longer to implement the existing EPBD and prepare to ensure compliance fully. The delay in implementation harms the environmental benefits expected from these already approved measures. It is also creating an extremely unfair situation for investors and professionals; the first can end up spending money today on systems that will need to be replaced tomorrow, and the latter risk being overburdened with short-notice project requests when the 2025 deadline approaches. In my new role as the Deputy Managing Director and Head of Policy at eu.bac, I will continue to work with Hans and our members every day to promote the adoption of BACS in all Member States. By working with national and regional governments and continuing to push for increasing ambition at the EU level, we aim to ensure we all soon live and work in smart, healthy, comfortable and efficient buildings.