• Ongoing Projects
• Business models for digital building technologies

Buildings are one of the main sources of CO2 emissions in Germany. They are responsible for a third of the final energy demand in Germany. The building sector is therefore a central component of German climate policy.

The largest share of emissions is caused by unrenovated or partially renovated post-war residential buildings. Heating these buildings in a climate-neutral way by 2045 is a major challenge. This calls for solutions that improve efficiency and reduce CO2 emissions.

Building automation can significantly reduce CO2 emissions

Digital building technologies can play an important role here. Building automation in particular (e.g. monitoring and energy management systems) can make a significant contribution to reducing energy consumption and CO2 emissions.

Although the benefits of building automation have already been proven in numerous cases and it could play an important role in achieving Germany’s climate targets, it has not yet been used on a large scale by the housing industry.

Non-transparent business models hinder distribution

One of the main reasons for this is the lack of transparency and complex financing and business models. They make it difficult for the housing industry as a customer to assess the cost-benefit ratio of using the technology.

User-investor dilemma blocks investments

In addition, the user-investor dilemma makes it difficult to refinance the technology. This means that landlords do not invest in the technology because they do not associate any direct benefit with it. They are often unable to pass on the investment to tenants.

Although tenants benefit from the use of the technology through lower energy consumption, they have no influence on the investment decision. They are therefore hardly willing to contribute to the costs. As a result, they do not invest in the technology.

More transparency is needed

Another problem is that it is difficult for the housing industry to get an overview of the technology available on the market. There is therefore a need for greater transparency about current market and provider structures for building automation in order to make it easier for the housing industry to decide whether to use it.

Of particular interest here is what changes and new patterns can be recognised in the business models over time and whether new business models are more closely aligned with the requirements of customers from the housing industry than in the past.

The aim of the project is to obtain a systematic overview of the market and provider structures of digital building technology and to draw conclusions as to how the dissemination of the technologies can be further improved.