Saving energy is just the start

5 ways your buildings can save you money

Sep 25, 2026
Dr. Jennifer Fest
Head of Communikation & Marketing

Hot Topics

When we talk about efficient buildings, the first thing that comes to mind is using less energy – and rightly so. According to the EU, buildings account for 40% of the Union’s energy consumption, and around 75% of the building stock is still energy inefficient (Energy Performance of Buildings Directive). Reducing that consumption is the most direct lever for both the climate and the budget, and it is what meteoviva’s solutions have been built for from the very start.

But “efficiency” means more than that. A building that runs efficiently does not only use less energy, the term also reflects how much you pay for the energy you do use, how often your systems need attention, how reliably your operations run and how comfortable your tenants feel. All of these factors cost money, directly or indirectly, but they rarely end up in the same calculation. Looking at them together, there are at least five ways in which efficient building operation pays off and your building can simply save you money. Of course, not every lever is equally relevant for every owner, but there is at least one for every portfolio.

1. Use less energy with predictive control
Most buildings are still operated reactively: heating starts when a room is already too cold, cooling when it is already too warm. This reaction always comes with a time lag, so the room climate is often not quite right, which means the people in the building take matters into their own hands. They open windows, turn up the heating or lower the cooling, often counteracting the system without knowing it and increasing energy consumption even further.

Predictive control takes a different approach. A digital twin of the building combines real data from sensors on site with weather forecasts, usage patterns and the building’s physical characteristics, such as materials, window fronts and orientation. Based on this, the solution calculates in advance how much heating or cooling will be needed, and when.

Example: if an office building has a glass front facing south-west, a sunny afternoon will warm up those rooms considerably, even in winter. Knowing this ahead of time, the heating can be turned down before the sun comes out, not after the rooms have already overheated.

All of this happens automatically, like an autopilot for your building. Depending on building type and context, up to 45% of energy consumption can be saved this way, while the room climate stays steadily within the comfort range.

Most relevant for: every building owner, as this is the foundation all other savings build on

2. Pay less for the energy you use
Using less energy is one side of the equation. The other side is the price you pay for it, and that price is anything but constant. Electricity prices fluctuate over the course of the day, depending on demand and on how much energy is being generated, for example by wind and solar power. On top of that, many buildings pay extra charges for their highest load peaks, even if these only occur for a short time.

Demand side management takes both factors into account. Based on energy prices and your building’s demand, it shifts flexible consumers such as heat pumps to times when electricity is cheap, which is often also when its carbon footprint is lowest.

Example: instead of running at full power in the early evening, when demand and prices are high, a heat pump can warm up the building around midday, when solar power is plentiful. At the same time, peak shaving makes sure that load peaks are avoided, so that the extra charges connected to them no longer apply.

The result is a lower price for every kilowatt hour your building uses, and more independence from energy price fluctuations. This also makes your building future-proof, since flexible consumption will become even more valuable as the share of renewable energy in the grid continues to grow.

Most relevant for: owners of energy-intensive buildings, especially those with heat pumps or their own renewable energy generation

3. Reduce maintenance costs
Reactive control is not only inefficient in terms of energy, it also puts strain on the technical systems themselves. Since they only respond once a room is already too warm or too cold, they often have to switch on and off frequently or run at full load to catch up with conditions that could have been anticipated. For heating, ventilation and cooling systems, this means more wear and tear, which in turn means more repairs and shorter replacement cycles.

Predictive control operates these systems more smoothly. Because heating and cooling demand is calculated in advance, the systems can run evenly and only as much as needed, with fewer load changes and fewer phases of full capacity.

Example: on a cold Monday morning, after the heating has been turned down over the weekend, a reactively controlled office building only notices at 8am that the rooms are too cold. The boiler then has to run at full power for hours to catch up. With predictive control, the system knows when people will arrive and what the weather will be like, so it starts earlier and brings the building up to temperature gradually, at a much lower output. This way, the life of your existing equipment is extended, and investments in new systems can be postponed.

There is also a human side to this. When the room climate is steadily within the comfort range, there are fewer complaints about rooms that are too hot or too cold, and fewer situations in which someone has to intervene manually. Facility teams can therefore focus on the tasks that really need their expertise.

Most relevant for: owners and operators of buildings with complex technical systems, as well as large portfolios.

4. Avoid costly downtime
For many companies, buildings are not just an asset but part of their core business. In production sites, laboratories, service or logistics centres, a failing system or an unsuitable room climate can quickly mean stopped processes, damaged goods or lost productivity. These losses can easily outweigh the entire annual energy bill, which makes a reliable building operation a matter of business continuity.

As a first step, technical monitoring makes the operation of your building transparent. It continuously shows how your systems are performing and points out where something deviates from normal, often long before anyone on site would notice.

Example: a pump in the cooling circuit of a production hall slowly loses performance over several weeks. The temperatures in the hall still seem fine, but the data already show that the system has to work harder and harder to keep them stable. Recognised early, the pump can be serviced or replaced in a planned way, instead of failing on the hottest day of the year and bringing production to a halt.

Combined in a next step with predictive control, which keeps the room climate steadily within the required range, this gives you a building operation that is not only more efficient, but also absolutely reliable.

Most relevant for: corporate owner-occupiers whose operations depend on their buildings, such as manufacturers, laboratories, service centres and logistics companies.

5. Keep tenants happy and rental income secure
For real estate funds and landlords, the most expensive space is an empty one. Every month without a tenant means lost rent, and finding a new one often comes with additional costs for marketing, refurbishment or incentives. Tenants rarely leave because of one single issue, but a room climate that is uncomfortable on a regular basis is a reason that adds up over time. Predictive control keeps the room climate steadily within the comfort range, throughout the building and throughout the year.

Example: in many office buildings, meeting rooms on the sunny side become uncomfortably warm every summer afternoon, while other areas are too cold in the morning. For the people working there, this is a daily annoyance, and it is exactly the kind of experience that comes up when a lease is up for renewal. When the building anticipates these situations instead of reacting to them, the complaints simply do not arise in the first place.

On top of that, lower energy consumption means lower service charges, which makes your property more attractive to existing and prospective tenants alike. Using meteoviva’s predictive control is also enough for a building to reach DGNB Bronze status, which supports both its lettability and its long-term value.

Most relevant for: real estate funds, asset managers and landlords of office and retail space.

Low risk: savings you can rely on
Promising savings is easy. Guaranteeing them is a different matter, and it requires knowing exactly what a solution can achieve before it is implemented. This is where the physics-based building model behind meteoviva’s predictive control makes the difference. Since it is based on the real characteristics of your building and has been developed and validated with more than 14 million hours of operating data over more than 15 years, the savings can be calculated with high precision in advance.

That is why we guarantee an ROI of under five years for many of our solutions. This guarantee is not a marketing promise but part of the contract, and it is backed by a dedicated insurance. For you, this means that the financial risk of making your buildings more efficient is kept at a minimum. And the approach has proven itself in practice: meteoviva’s solutions are already in use in more than 500 buildings in 19 countries, from office buildings and shopping centres to universities and airports.

Where to start
If you want to make the most of your buildings, the most effective step is to start with predictive control right away. It reduces energy consumption from day one, takes strain off your technical systems and keeps the room climate steadily within the comfort range, which means that most of the savings described above come into effect at the same time.

For owners who would like to take a more gradual approach, technical monitoring is a good entry point. It makes the data of your building transparent and provides recommendations for measures to be implemented on site. Since it already includes the digital infrastructure needed for active control, the step from transparency to active optimisation is a straightforward upgrade rather than a new project.

Whichever solution you choose, all your buildings come together in the meteoviva cockpit. It works as a dashboard for your entire portfolio, with reports and an overview of consumption, performance and savings at a glance.

Find your solution
Every building is different, and so is every portfolio. Which of the five levers makes the biggest difference for you depends on how your buildings are used, what technical systems they contain and what matters most to your business.

If you would like to find out how much your buildings could save, we are happy to take a closer look together with you.

Get in touch!

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Saving energy is just the start

5 ways your buildings can save you money

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