The environmental and social impact from digitization in buildings : A case study of the transformation and current conditions on the University hospital of Northern Sweden

• Main Authors: Melén, Matilda, Wenhov, Alma
• Format: Bachelor Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Umeå universitet, Institutionen för tillämpad fysik och elektronik 2022
• Subjects: digitization; building automation; HVAC; energy efficiency; qualitative interview; quantitative interview; LCA; maintenance techniques; environmental analysis; condition-based maintenance; preventive maintenance; reactive maintenance; NUS; the university hospital of northern sweden; Schneider Electric; CO2; transportation; efficiency; indoor comfort; indoor climate; climate change; digitalisering; fastighetsautomation; energieffektivisering; kvalitativ intervju; kvantitativ intervju; underhållsstrategier; miljöanalys; konditionsbaserat underhåll; förebyggande underhåll; reaktivt underhåll; Norrlands Universitetssjukhus; transporter; effektivitet; inomhuskomfort; inomhusklimat; klimatförändring; Energy Engineering; Energiteknik; Environmental Analysis and Construction Information Technology; Miljöanalys och bygginformationsteknik; Work Sciences; Arbetslivsstudier; Northern Sweden
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-196384

To improve sustainability, social, environmental and economic aspects needs to be considered. The most optimal result appears when all three aspects are balanced equally, this is however often overseen by private investors, who focuses only on reaching economic sustainability at the expense of social and environmental sustainability. Building digitization is one way to potentially improve the sustainability of a building socially, environmentally and economically. Focusing on the aspects that often are neglected, this thesis aims to investigate if digitizing a building improves social and environmental sustainability. The investigation is made by evaluating the implementation of a digital building automation tool from selected social and environmental sustainability criteria at the University hospital of Northern Sweden. This by performing an interview survey with the maintenance organisation and the tenants in the building, as well as performing CO2-e calculations on emissions connected to energy usage, transportation and production of HVAC-products. The evaluation indicated that the implementation had resulted in improved sustainability in the studied building, both socially and environmentally. Showing that digitizing a building improves social and environmental sustainability. The social sustainability had been positively affected from increased efficiency and effectiveness of the maintenance work in the building and improved well-being of the maintenance staff. However, the tenants were not completely satisfied when asked if reported errors were being solved, but on the other hand had the maintenance organisation experienced an improvement in satisfaction among the tenants since the implementation of the digital building automation tool. Furthermore, the tenants were generally more satisfied than dissatisfied with the indoor climate, except for experienced low temperatures in the winter and dry air. The environmental sustainability had been improved from a reduction in emitted CO2-e, generated from less ...