Schneider Electric, has joined buildingSMART International’s Strategic Advisory Council (SAC).
With the construction and building industry needing to become more efficient and sustainable, there is a growing need for standards, processes, and digitisation of energy management at the design, construction, operational and maintenance phases of building operations. Schneider is aiming to take a leadership role in the buildingSMART community by sharing its proprietary knowledge and expertise with the international community to help decarbonise buildings, which are currently responsible for around 40% of global CO2 emissions.
The strategic partnership will also see the formation of the “Sustainable Energy Management” Room, created to improve collaboration and exchanges around design patterns in sustainable energy management for the benefit of the built asset industry.
Schneider Electric’ s Normalised Electrical Model (NEM), which aims to solve collaboration challenges for electrical design, will also be available to the buildingSMART International community. The NEM will be harmonised with Industry Foundation Classes (IFC), extending the range and functionality of open standards, particularly for buildings and smart cities. NEM describes the electrical network with electrical functions, devices and energy behavior. NEM is a true “digital twin” of the electrical network, helping with data flows across the various lifecycle phases. The entire MEP software world will benefit from Schneider Electric contribution to a Normalised Electrical Model.
Richard Petrie, chief executive, buildingSMART International, said, "Schneider Electric joining the SAC not only shows a real intent from them to help shape the industry, but it also shows how committed they are to enabling a more sustainable future. Their desire to form the “Sustainable Energy Performance” Room and further develop their NEM model means we expect big things. It is important to embrace the existing body of work already done by Schneider and to advance this to enable integrated open workflow capabilities in this important area. This is hugely exciting. The fact they want to develop this in our community shows real progress, demonstrates confidence in us and the buildingSMART worldwide community will benefit as a result.”
Marc Nezet, energy management software transformation SVP, Schneider Electric, commented, “Buildings are at the bedrock of global decarbonisation and need to undergo a seismic shift in efficiency and sustainability. Our decision to join the BuildingSMART Strategic Advisory Council is another clear indicator that Schneider Electric is a leading player in software for the design, construction, operation and maintenance of a wide range of facilities. As member of Strategic Advisory Council we will contribute to support interoperability, open BIM standard to empower any software user across the life cycle to make better informed decision for sustainable and efficient building. As founding member of “sustainable energy management” room, Schneider Electric will bring its leadership expertise in electrification and automation to IFC standard to support low carbon compliance from Design to operation. Our focus on developing world-class software is right at the heart of our mission to be our customers' digital partners in sustainability and efficiency. I am very excited about what this partnership will bring in terms of innovation to the building lifecycle.”