Hong Kong's growing expertise in "efficient building"

One of the wireless technologies with great opportunities is the self-powered wireless technology from the EnOcean Alliance. The company's solutions make use of energy created from slight changes in motion, pressure, light, temperature or vibration. The radio sensors do not require batteries for operation.

According to a study carried out by the German research lab IFE Krefeld, the daily energy requirement for heating can be reduced by 40% through the use of electronically-operated window contacts.

When a window is opened, a contact switch - which works without batteries - transmits a radio signal to re-set the heating in the room. This calculation is based on the assumption that the room is aired for a total of one hour with an inside and outside temperature difference of 10 degrees Celsius.

The same applies to air-conditioning systems: when opening a window, the air-conditioning simply goes off. Electronically-controlled window contacts are a reliable means to show enormous energy saving potential.

Fitting a building with such contacts previously proved quite complex and expensive due to the cabling required. Small radio sensors now help unlock this savings potential as an inexpensive alternative, even through retrofitting.

The next step will be for governments to define building energy codes for existing buildings. Experts agree that BAS will become part of a huge retrofitting and renovation market.

EnOcean is already at work in Asia: "[Hong Kong headquartered] Suffice Industrial Technology Limited is distributing EnOcean products on the Chinese mainland and in Hong Kong, with other distributors serving Japan, South Korea and Singapore," said Michael Gartz, International Sales Manager with EnOcean.

(Source www.hktdc.com, 12.2.2010)