Net Zero building is designed in a way that allows it to generate sufficient amounts of renewable energy over the year to balance its energy consumption while ensuring that there is a minimal emission of greenhouse gases from the operation of the building. Net Zero buildings differ from ordinary buildings that use mostly electricity generated from the grid through the design that is efficient and intelligent electrical systems that actively control when and how electricity is consumed.

As far as Australia is concerned, the notion of Net Zero involves something more than saving money on the electric bills. Commercial buildings are encouraged to be part of the process of national decarbonization by reducing operational emissions, promoting renewable energy use, and increasing energy efficiency in general. The government along with various sustainability strategies and voluntary rating systems, including NABERS and Green Star, promote the use of technologies that are both environmentally friendly and increase efficiency.

These goals can be achieved not only through the implementation of renewable energy sources. The whole electrical system has to be efficient.

Why Traditional Switchboards Are No Longer Enough

Electrical switchboards for decades have been built for one sole purpose – safe distribution of electricity within a building.

The electricity would travel in one direction from the electricity grid through the switchboard and into the lightings, power points, air-conditioning and any other electrical appliances in a building. There would be protection devices such as fuses or circuit breakers to isolate any faults but after that, the switchboard would not have much intelligence about what was going on.

A modern commercial building works quite differently.

In addition to a single electricity source, most buildings in Australia nowadays have multiple distributed energy resources which include rooftop solar panels, battery energy storage, generator, electric vehicle charging stations and microgrids among others. Electricity can move in various directions based on generation, consumption, battery charging or exportation of electricity.

Such control requires far more visibility than what a traditional switchboard can offer.

Today’s building operators do not want to merely be told whether there is an active power supply but need to know how much electrical energy each tenant is consuming, how efficient their HVAC system is working, how much solar energy is being fed into the grid, peak periods of demand, and even how low-quality power supply is affecting the efficiency of their systems.

A traditional switchboard cannot give such information.

The Evolution of the Smart Switchboard

The modern switchboard system is considered an evolutionary step forward in electricity distribution.

Unlike the traditional switchboards that concentrated solely on protection and distribution, the smart switchboards integrate both features along with digital monitoring, communication, automation, and data analysis.

They cease to be mere electrical components and become part of the building’s digital environment.

The contemporary smart switch boards feature intelligent circuit breakers, multi-function power meters, communication gateways, current transformers, power quality analyzers, programmable controllers, and networking capabilities. Collectively, these devices gather electrical data and transmit it to the monitoring centers where the facility managers analyze the building performance on a continuous basis.

In contrast to waiting for the bill in the month-end to realize that too much energy is being used, the abnormal situations can be recognized and corrected before cost escalation.

The transition from the reactive maintenance to proactive energy management is one of the most significant developments in the electrical infrastructure of the last ten years.

Why Data Has Become the Most Valuable Energy Resource

One of the most common misunderstandings regarding Net Zero buildings is that energy generation from renewable sources will maximize the efficiency of the building’s energy use.

This is not quite true since energy generation is not the only thing that matters.

Efficient energy usage requires knowing how electricity is consumed in your building.

The lack of data forces facility managers to make a lot of presumptions since all they might know about electricity consumption is its total value per month.

However, smart switchboards make things different.

Through continuous monitoring of the electrical parameters in different circuits, they give information on where energy is being used, when peaks in demand arise, and how the equipment performs under varying conditions.

Instead of seeing just the total amount of electricity that is used throughout a building, operators are able to see the consumption of electricity in individual distribution boards, HVACs, lighting, production machinery, electric vehicle charging stations, data centers, and the tenants’ premises.

With such information, maintenance staff can be able to detect inefficient equipment, unusual peaks in electrical demand, and undertake projects based on actual performance information as opposed to guessing.

Often times, information provided by smart switchboards will reveal inefficiencies that could have gone unnoticed for months or even years.

Circuit-Level Energy Monitoring Delivers Actionable Insights

As commercial buildings in Australia keep getting more advanced, circuit-level monitoring has become quite common.

Instead of measuring the electricity being consumed in terms of just supply, an intelligent switchboard can measure electricity in hundreds of circuits.

This gives an insight into how electricity flows within the building.

In this regard, a facility manager can determine that HVAC systems take up almost half of the total electricity consumed in summer, whereas there is increased demand for EV charging in afternoon. The lighting system may be on even after office hours, and one tenancy may use more electricity than others.

With this data available, building owners will be able to take energy-efficient actions instead of taking general measures that will save costs but not necessarily energy.

This will lead to good decisions making process, greater accountability of tenants and better energy performance measurement.