Article

Increase building intelligence, decrease energy consumption

The world’s increasing urbanisation is contributing to significant amounts of energy being used. The global cooling demand alone has doubled in less than 20 years. And water and energy go hand in hand. In general water pumps currently account for a huge amount of the world’s electricity consumption — but with more energy efficient pump solutions, this amount can be heavily reduced.

As we know, this growth in energy consumption is a major driver of climate change. In some places, climate change is leading to severe droughts, while in others the effects on our climate are projected to cause heavier rainfalls, leading to extreme floods as well as wastewater and seawater intrusion polluting our groundwater and affecting the water quality. Flooding affects approximately 250 million people worldwide and causes USD 40 billion in losses on an annual basis.

There are plenty of intelligent water solutions available, but unfortunately they are not implemented with the same speed as we see technologies like wind and solar being implemented in the energy industry. Therefore in commercial buildings responsible water consumption and energy efficient solutions must be prioritised to help fight the climate changes we are facing.

Emissions and climate change

Energy production accounts for 73% of CO2 emissions – playing a critical role in climate change.

Source: United Nations Water

Energy consumption

Energy consumption for space cooling has nearly doubled since 2000

Source: International Energy Agency, 2018

Pumps and consumption

As of today, pumps consume a massive amount of the world’s electrical power.

Source: The European Union - Commission Staff Working Document

Implementation with a purpose – and big results

Intelligent solutions are available and ready to be implemented. These solutions can drastically benefit both mankind and the earth we’re living on. So, in an effort to decrease energy and water usage, as well as increase efficiency, these customers and cities have made big changes — and seen big results.

Dubai buildings unlock up to 80% energy savings with simple pump swaps

All it took was unhappy tenants to connect the dots between how to fix a building and a government’s goals for improving energy use. Combined with ambitions to lower the energy consumption, Grundfos implemented a simple solution that ended up paying for itself.

Pump upgrade for growing city brings efficiency

In Qujiang, China, the water supply had been traditionally helped by gravity’s flow — but urbanisation was offering a new challenge. What started as a project to improve pump efficiency brought benefits – such as energy savings up to 33% and reliable water supply.

Pump station solves chronic flooding, boosts quality of life in Semarang

Suffering from massive flooding, the Indonesian city Semarang built a strong, unique solution with Grundfos to shelter its citizens from the floods. See how the Semarang pumping station solved the flooding problem for the central, affected part of the city.