Swiss company U-Blox is optimising energy consumption and reducing CO₂ emissions in Vietnam buildings with help from local firm Nagakawa.

U-Blox’s technologies are contributing to the seamless connectivity of a sustainable smart building offering that can lower operational expenses and monthly electricity bills.

The two firms are developing smart HVAC and variable refrigerant flow (VRF) systems digitally integrated with building management system (BMS) software. The aim is to optimise energy consumption and reduce CO₂ emissions in buildings in Vietnam, including offices, factories, warehouses and homes.

Nagakawa’s smart VRF, HVAC and BMS offering is particularly relevant for a country where up to 45% of electricity generation still comes from coal-fired sources. Such developments will contribute to the Vietnamese government achieving its goal of net-zero CO₂ emissions by 2050, as pledged at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP 26) in 2021.

Nagakawa’s smart building offering could play a role in the digital transformation of various types of buildings. Supported by the BEMServer open-source building energy management platform, and enabling manual or automatic adjustment of HVAC and VRF systems, the offering can help curb energy consumption and reduce CO₂ emissions.

Power consumption data from the VRF and HVAC systems are sent to an AIoT cloud server, where they are analysed and pushed as a notification to the BMS dashboard. As the data are accessible through a wide range of devices, such as smartphones, tablets, laptops and building control centres, the facility manager or system owner can take immediate action to prevent electricity waste.

Nagakawa (nagakawa.com.vn) is partnering with U-Blox and the Beesota 6G Alliance (www.beesota.com) to build a comprehensive system, with gradual implementation into buildings planned throughout Vietnam. U-Blox provides cellular connectivity via its multi-mode LTE Cat 1bis Lena-R8 (www.u-blox.com/en/product/lena-r8-series) module, equipped with the global and low-power MQTT Anywhere (www.u-blox.com/en/product/mqtt-anywhere) IoT communication service. The U-Blox Thingstream cloud-based delivery platform then enables simple processing, transformation and integration of messages to the enterprise. This integration ensures seamless connectivity and security for air conditioning systems.

Implementing Nagakawa’s offering in buildings provides dual benefits to its initiators. First, it reduces operational expenses and monthly electricity bills. Secondly, it makes it easier to acquire the Vietnam Green Label, certifying adherence to environmentally friendly Green Label Criteria set by the Ministry of Natural Resources & Environment (Monre).

The deployment of this sustainable option across Vietnam could also lead to further expansion in other countries.

U-Blox (www.u-blox.com) is headquartered in Thalwil, Switzerland, and employs 1400 people.