Joel Ritschel, director of enterprise sustainability, healthy buildings, at UL Solutions, discusses how the convergence of safety, sustainability and building performance is shaping a more resilient and sustainable built environment.
Industry trends from now until 2030 and beyond
What major shifts do you expect in building safety, security and sustainability practices by 2030 and what is driving them?
I think the biggest shift is the co-mingling of all of those things. Safety and security and sustainability are not separate practices anymore. It’s all part of building performance rather than separate entities.
How do you think regulatory requirements and standards are evolving around the world to either support or encourage this?
The regulatory landscape used to be more prescriptive and now it’s more performance-based. We’re also seeing more global adoption.
Historically, regulations and requirements were really focused on new construction. Now, a lot of the new regulations are looking at the existing building stock. There’s a lot more existing building stock than new construction stock, so that shift in focus is inherently going to push more efficiency and sustainability.
Which emerging regulations or global policy shifts do you expect to have a big impact on the industry in the next five to 10 years?
I think building performance standards will evolve to include carbon disclosure and transparency regulations around the world, and that will have a significant impact over the next five years.
Energy efficiency and building performance
What strategies are most effective for reducing operational energy use without compromising comfort, resilience or uptime?
I think it’s actually the small, incremental changes that are the most effective for reducing energy use. Things like smart scheduling, system optimisations and continuous commissioning within buildings can deliver significant results.
Where do you see the biggest energy-saving opportunities that are still underutilised in commercial and industrial buildings?
The majority of building stock is Class B and Class C buildings, which typically don’t have dedicated engineering staff. There’s opportunity for optimisation of control sequences, occupancy-based systems management and moving from static schedules. These buildings have the most low-cost opportunities.
Building technologies, smart buildings and automation
What digital building innovations show the most promise for driving sustainable performance gains?
In buildings, it’s automation. I’m talking about HVAC, lighting, occupancy sensors, all of those things. If there’s no one in the space, we turn the lights off, and we change the temperature set points. We’re not there yet, but we’re getting close to predictive approaches that optimise building performance even before a space is occupied.
How do you think that emerging building codes are influencing the adoption of these digital technologies and smarter building systems?
They’re nudging owners and operators toward these technologies, whether they’re explicitly requiring it or writing the code in a way that almost forces the use of some new technology to meet the requirements. It’s quickly becoming more than a pass-or-fail situation. It’s ongoing reporting and performance-based requirements.
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About UL Solutions
A global leader in applied safety science, UL Solutions (NYSE: ULS) transforms safety, security and sustainability challenges into opportunities for customers in more than 110 countries. UL Solutions delivers testing, inspection and certification services, together with software products and advisory offerings, that support our customers’ product innovation and business growth.
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