Across our European portfolio, now totalling close to 8,500 beds in mainland Europe, Utopi offers clients much more than just data – we offer clarity, confidence and intelligence. What matters is what our volume of granular, real-time data lets us see: Not just how much energy a building uses, but why, and how the building is actually lived in.
Here is one example of what that intelligence uncovers:
The Mystery.
Two European student housing portfolios, in two different European markets, but remarkably similar asset mix. Same operating model. Comparable climate zone for each market. Near identical residents and occupancy levels.
Yet one was found to be running at more than twice the electricity of the other, per bed, every year. The question every Asset Manager should ask: What is driving that gap?
3,354kWh per bed, per year
Versus 1,548kWh per bed, per year
A 2.2x Gap per bed, per year
The First Surprise: It Was Never the Residents.
When we did a deep dive into the room level insights, where Utopi Multisensors and sub-meter data was available, the two markets at a resident consumption level were almost identical: 1.43 kWh per bed per day versus, 1.51 kWh.
Residents in both European markets were therefore living, and consuming electricity, in almost exactly the same way. The gap had nothing to do with behaviour. The entire difference would therefore sit in the plant and services, the part of the building no resident ever touches. Proof that more granular insights were needed to understand exactly what was going on in these portfolios.
What the Building Was Hiding.
Our analysis found three things compounding on top of each other to drive the 2.2x gap:
- Air Conditioning Behaviour: The warmer portfolio ran centralised cooling hard through summer, with indoor temperatures hitting 27° to 30°C, and air conditioning takes greater electrical demand. The cooler portfolio needed nowhere near the same effort. Unoccupied spaces were also uncovered being air conditioned, introducing energy wastage to the equation.
- Indoor versus Outdoor Bridging: The warmer market’s buildings bridged an average 12°C indoor-outdoor gap versus the cooler portfolio’s coastal sites bridging an average of just 8°C, roughly a third less thermal effort.
- Building Infrastructure: One portfolio used all-electric centralised HVAC for both heating and cooling, so every kilowatt landed on the electricity meter. The other used a combination of gas boilers or district heating for its heating circuit, a load that never touches the electricity bill at all.
Where the Value Lies.
What this analysis proved was a top-level figure or building averages will only ever tell you so much. The why behind these figures is where the real value can be unlocked and where the financial opportunity can be realised.
Report the average, and your worst performers hide inside it. Measure the asset, and you can uncover the trends and spot the outliers, defend the savings, and place the next euro of capital where it will have the biggest impact.
That is the move from ESG label to building performance intelligence, and where you can drive results in your own portfolios across the UK, Ireland and Europe.