Validation of the smart readiness indicator on real test buildings - energy efficiency of heat generators

Smart technologies have the potential to combat rising energy prices, climate change, and political dependencies. The Smart Readiness Indicator (SRI) assesses the intelligence of a building via evaluating the implemented smart technologies. Previous studies of the SRI and its effects on energy efficiency have been conducted through simulations. This paper validates the SRI through experiments on two identical real buildings, equipped with district heating (H-2a) and heat pump (H-2b). The aim of this paper is to quantify the energy savings achieved by increasing SRI functionality levels for heat generator control. The results show that higher functionality levels lead to higher energy savings: up to 16.8 % for H-2a and 51.3 % for H-2b. However, the measured values deviate significantly from the SRI-predicted efficiencies and the forecast factors from EN ISO 52120. Moreover, the two services - while equally weighted in the SRI - differ notably in their actual energy-saving potential. This discrepancy highlights that the SRI does not reliably reflect real energy performance and that functionality levels alone are insufficient to estimate actual efficiency gains. ... mehrThe findings suggest that the SRI, in its current form, is limited as a framework for predicting the effect of smart technologies, especially when compared across services. This paper contributes the first empirical evidence of this kind and supports the need for a performance-oriented refinement of the SRI.