The SRI index represents a fundamental step towards the creation of buildings that are increasingly efficient, sustainable and in line with the needs of an ever-changing society.
Introduced by the EPBD, it will be the common European index to assess the readiness of buildings to use smart technologies.
Mission: energy efficiency. This could be the claim of the Smart Readiness Indicator (SRI), the common EU index that assesses the readiness of buildings to use smart technologies, introduced by EU Directive 2018/844 on the energy performance of buildings (EPBD). In essence, this indicator aims to determine how much a building's energy efficiency and performance is improved, thanks to the adoption of smart technologies.
Towards Smart Building
The EU's real estate assets are responsible for a large part of energy consumption and more than a third of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. Therefore, it is essential to: drastically reduce energy consumption; combat pollution; make new services available and improve the comfort of the people who live or work there.
The revision of the EPBD (Energy Performance of Buildings Directive) further raises the bar for building decarbonisation targets, requiring progressive energy class improvements in existing – public and private – buildings, by 2030; not only that, all newly constructed buildings will have to be zero-emission from 2028.
With a view to achieving these objectives, the Smart Readiness Indicator (SRI) is a fundamental lever to encourage technological and intelligent innovation in buildings. The European Intelligent Building Group (EIBG) defines smart building as a "building that provides a productive and convenient environment through the optimisation of its four basic elements (structures, systems, services, management) and their interrelation". It is a building equipped with automated systems and a supervision and control infrastructure that permits the optimisation of energy consumption, comfort and safety with the integration of electrical systems.
The SRI therefore represents a sort of "intelligence license" of a building.
The SRI assessment criteria specified in Annex 1 bis of the EPBD are based on:
- Comfort, understood as the ability of plants to adapt their operations according to the needs of users;
- Efficiency, evaluated through a monitoring system, even remotely, of the energy consumed;
- Flexibility, that is, how much and how the building is able to react in relation to the inputs received from the network such as, for example, load interruption and consumption modulation.
How does the SRI Index rating work?
The SRI calculation methodology proposed in Annex IV of the EPBD considers technologies such as: smart meters; Building Automation and Controls Systems (BACS); self-regulating devices for the regulation of indoor air temperature; integrated appliances; charging points for electric vehicles; energy storage as well as the specific functionalities and interoperability of these systems, in addition to the benefits for the climatic conditions of indoor environments, energy efficiency, performance levels and flexibility thus allowed.
The SRI calculation methodology is based on a three-step checklist approach:
- identification, after an initial triage, of the smart ready services present in the property among those in the catalogue;
- assignment to each service of a score assessed on the basis of the functional level achieved according to a pre-implemented scale of values;
- calculation of a partial score and the overall SRI of the building with a multi-criteria evaluation method.
The SRI assessment is based on the analysis of nine technical domains:
- Heating: low temperature heating systems, intelligent thermoregulation, use of renewable heat sources.
- Cooling: high efficiency cooling systems, use of natural cooling sources.
- Domestic hot water: high-efficiency domestic hot water production systems, use of renewable sources.
- Ventilation: controlled mechanical ventilation systems, heat recovery.
- Lighting: LED lighting systems, intelligent lighting control.
- Dynamic building envelope: solar shielding systems, high-performance thermal insulation.
- Electricity: electricity management systems, use of renewable energy sources.
- Electric vehicle charging: charging infrastructure for electric vehicles.
- Monitoring and control: building control and monitoring systems.
For each domain, the presence and effectiveness of the installed technologies is evaluated, assigning a score that contributes to the calculation of the overall value of the SRI.
What are the benefits of SRI?
The introduction of the SRI brings numerous benefits, both for building owners and for the community:
- Energy saving: buildings with a high SRI value consume less energy, reducing bills and environmental impact.
- Improved comfort: Thanks to intelligent control systems, occupants can enjoy optimal comfort in any environment.
- Increase in real estate value: buildings with a high SRI value are more attractive on the real estate market.
- Contribution to the energy transition: Smart buildings can play a key role in decarbonising the building sector.
SRI will therefore contribute to raising awareness of the benefits that smart building technologies bring to the creation of healthy, energy-efficient and comfortable buildings, including through building automation and electronic monitoring of heating, hot water, ventilation and lighting.
Finally, it should be noted that the European Union has prepared a package (https://energy.ec.europa.eu/topics/energy-efficiency/energy-efficient-buildings/smart-readiness-indicator_en) for the SRI assessment which contains an SRI calculation tool and a practical guide to get you started.
How does the installer's and designer's approach change?
Using the Smart Readiness Indicator as a reference allows a common language to be created for all the key players in the construction sector: from owners to designers, from solution providers to institutional parties, to installers. The energy requalification and the installation of intelligent systems in buildings provided for by the EPBD will increasingly involve professionals in the electrical sector called, for example:
- to install home automation systems;
- to design and install intelligent control systems for lighting, heating, cooling and other systems;
- to install photovoltaic, thermal and energy storage systems;
- to offer energy consultancy services to customers, helping them choose the solutions that best suit their needs and benefit from government incentives.