Saving Energy with Data – Enhancing Energy Efficiency in Real Estate and Property Management Services
Objectives
The built environment consumes a significant share of energy and is the cause of a large amount of our emissions. However, the real estate sector holds immense potential for energy savings – especially when data is used efficiently. Saving Energy with Data project addresses this need by bringing together property management, facility services, experts and technology developers.
The objective of Saving Energy with Data project is to enhance data capabilities in the sector and develop user-friendly digital solutions to support energy efficiency. This transformation introduces new digital tools and strengthens the skills of professionals in the field. Promoting collaboration between property managers, maintenance providers, service companies, and technology experts leads to more efficient operations and improved service quality – while supporting the green transition. The project is based on co-creation with industry companies and its results will be scaled nationwide across Finland.
The project combines digitalisation, service design, and sustainability goals, enabling the development of user-centric and impactful solutions. Its tools and models are designed to support the day-to-day work and well-being of professionals in the real estate sector. The goal is to integrate these solutions seamlessly into everyday processes without causing additional strain. This ensures that improving energy efficiency and managing energy savings becomes a natural part of operational property management and maintenance.
The Saving Energy with Data project develops solutions that make data understandable and applicable. Its goal is to empower property managers and maintenance professionals to make better decisions, save energy, and simplify their work.
The project consists of six work packages covering technology, skills, work processes, and communications:
- Technical pilot: Develop a simple, impactful solution that integrates property data from various sources to improve energy efficiency.
- Work process development: The Finnish Institute of Occupational Health improves work processes in property management offices to ensure that the new solutions support daily work without adding to the strain.
- Skills development: Finnish Information Society Development Centre (TIEKE) identifies competence needs and develops training models for data utilisation.
- Business ecosystem building: KIRAHub builds an ecosystem that supports data sharing and utilisation among industry stakeholders.
- Communication and knowledge sharing: Project results and insights are actively shared through blogs, events, and webinars.
- Coordination: TIEKE is responsible for overall project coordination.
Results and impact
The EU’s Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) aims to improve the energy efficiency of buildings and reduce emissions across the entire building stock by 2050. The directive (2018/844) supports climate change mitigation through enhanced energy performance. Finland’s national goal is to reduce CO₂ emissions from building heating energy consumption by approximately 92% between 2020 and 2050.
Property managers play a key role in improving energy efficiency and reducing emissions in housing, as operational energy use accounts for 76% of emissions in the built environment. According to EU estimates, construction and housing represent 40% of energy consumption and 36% of greenhouse gas emissions.
Improving building energy efficiency requires that property management and maintenance professionals can effectively and practically utilise fragmented data – such as consumption data, maintenance history, and condition assessments. Currently, this information is scattered across various systems and lacks integration, making it difficult to use and increasing workload.
Saving Energy with Data project improves data capabilities in the real estate and property management sector and develops user-friendly digital solutions to support energy efficiency. These help to achieve the project's larger objectives.
Ask about the project
Tiina Heusala
Project Manager, Head of Development
Research group
Arja Ala-Laurinaho, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health
TIEKE contact: Project Manager Marko Mikkonen, %20marko.mikkonen [at] tieke.fi (marko[dot]mikkonen[at]tieke[dot]fi)
KIRAHub contact: CEO Teemu Lehtinen, teemu [at] kirahub.org (teemu[at]kirahub[dot]org)
Funded by
Northern Ostrobothnia Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment, Innovation and Skills in Finland 2021–2027, EU Regional and Structural Policy Programme, European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Additionally, the project organisations (Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, TIEKE and KIRA-InnoHub ry) have also contributed financially to the project.
