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Building Automation

Buildings and Cities

Building automation systems serve as the 'brain' of large commercial buildings. Controlling temperature, lighting, and more, they can improve energy efficiency and occupants ' comfort.

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Rank and results by 2050 #45

Building Automation

Reduced CO2: 5 gigatons
Net cost (Billions US$): $68.12
Net operational savings: $880.55 billion
What do these numbers mean?

TOTAL CO2-EQ REDUCTION (GT)

Total CO2-equivalent reduction in atmospheric greenhouse gases by 2050 (gigatons)

NET COST (billions US $)

Net cost to implement

SAVINGS (billions US $)

Net savings by 2050

Impact:

BAS can result in up to 20 percent more efficient heating and cooling and 11.5 percent more efficient energy use for lighting, appliances, etc. Expanding these systems from 34 percent of commercial floor space in 2014 to 50 percent by mid-century — at an added cost of $68 billion—building owners could save $881 billion in operating costs. 4.6 gigatons of carbon dioxide emissions could be avoided.

Building Automation

Buildings and Cities

Building automation systems serve as the 'brain' of large commercial buildings. Controlling temperature, lighting, and more, they can improve energy efficiency and occupants ' comfort.

Energy courses through buildings—in heating and air-conditioning systems, electrical wiring, water heating, lighting, information and communications systems, security and access systems, fire alarms, elevators, appliances, and indirectly through plumbing. Most large commercial buildings have some form of centralized, computer-based building management, used to monitor, evaluate, and control those systems. Adopting automated rather than manual building management systems can reduce energy consumption by 10 to 20 percent.

A building automation system (BAS) is a building’s brain. Equipped with sensors, BAS buildings are constantly scanning and rebalancing for greatest efficiency and effectiveness. Lights switch off when no one’s around, for example, and windows vent to improve air quality and temperature. New buildings can be equipped with BAS from the start; older ones can be retrofitted to incorporate it and reap its benefits.

Beyond energy savings and reduced operations and maintenance costs, BAS benefits the well-being and productivity of people inside the building. Improved thermal and lighting comfort and indoor air quality directly impact occupant satisfaction. BAS is especially useful to ensure and maintain efficiency in green buildings, so that their ratings on paper match their actual performance.

Vs

Managed Grazing

Food

Managed grazing imitates the activity of migratory herds to improve soil health, carbon sequestration, water retention, and forage productivity.

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Rank and results by 2050 #19

Managed Grazing

Reduced CO2: 16 gigatons
Net cost (Billions US$): $50.48
Net operational savings: $735.27 billion
What do these numbers mean?

TOTAL CO2-EQ REDUCTION (GT)

Total CO2-equivalent reduction in atmospheric greenhouse gases by 2050 (gigatons)

NET COST (billions US $)

Net cost to implement

SAVINGS (billions US $)

Net savings by 2050

Impact:

By enhancing carbon sequestration compared to standard grazing practices, this solution can sequester 16.3 gigatons of carbon dioxide by 2050. Note that this does not reduce the 10 gigatons of methane that are emitted on that grazing land today. Growth in adoption of managed grazing practices would need to rise from 195 million acres to 1.1 billion acres over thirty years. Financial returns are $735 billion by 2050, on a $51 billion additional investment.

Managed Grazing

Food

Managed grazing imitates the activity of migratory herds to improve soil health, carbon sequestration, water retention, and forage productivity.

Grazing animals create extraordinary environments—witness the Serengeti plains and tall grass prairies of the United States. Where original grasslands are still intact, they are abundant lands with carbon-rich soils. They benefit from the activity of migratory herds that cluster tightly for protection; munch grasses to the crown; disturb the soil with their hooves, intermixing their urine and feces; and then move on.

Managed grazing imitates these herbivores, addressing two key variables: how long livestock grazes a specific area and how long the land rests before animals return. There are three managed-grazing techniques that improve soil health, carbon sequestration, water retention, and forage productivity:

1. Improved continuous grazing adjusts standard grazing practices and decreases the number of animals per acre.
2. Rotational grazing moves livestock to fresh paddocks or pastures, allowing those already grazed to recover.
3. Adaptive multi-paddock grazing shifts animals through smaller paddocks in quick succession, after which the land is given time to recover.

Improved grazing can be very good for the land and sequester from one-half to three tons of carbon per acre. However, it does not address the methane emissions generated by ruminants (cattle, sheep, goats, etc.), which ferment cellulose in their digestive systems and break it down with methane-emitting microbes.

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