Remote building management

In 2014, in preparation for its “Cité de l’énergie” [City of Energy] certification, Pully committed to taking steps to improve its energy efficiency. In this context, a study was conducted on 12 administrative buildings; it showed that the consumption of certain buildings – primary and secondary schools in particular – accounted for 80% of the energy costs of the City’s property assets. To reduce this expense, the municipal authorities have gradually modernized devices and equipped the City with a remote management platform to control its buildings remotely.

Previously, without this technology, it was necessary to wait for residents to come forward to identify a technical breakdown. However, such malfunctions often occur well before a human is aware of them. With the new remote management system (or “MCR,” for Measurement, Control, Regulation), the City’s caretakers and technical managers can, in particular, remotely control the heating and ventilation systems of buildings owned by the City.

When a fault is detected, an e-mail alert is automatically sent on the platform; it is then possible to make a remote adjustment to correct the problem or to request the intervention of a specialist. Since abnormalities are detected quickly, energy losses are limited. Remote building management has allowed Pully to reduce its energy costs.

Ultimately, the hope is to deploy this technology across the entire Pully rental fleet, once all buildings are connected to fiber optics (by 2020-2030). However, before implementing remote control on a large scale, it is a matter of optimizing the existing facilities. The City has begun to gradually replace the boilers of the buildings it owns in order to improve performance.