Desjardins Living Lab: Building Retrofit from Design to Implementation Towards Prosumer and Grid-Support Services
Project overview
This project is a collaboration with Groupe Desjardins to develop a digitized decarbonization roadmap using its extensive real estate holdings in Quebec, Canada and North America, focusing on showcasing smart building transformations.
As a prominent Canadian financial institution, Desjardins is pivotal in guiding Canada's buildings towards zero emissions by establishing guidelines for smart operations and retrofits. The project aims to overcome the inconsistency in decarbonization efforts by setting clear methodologies and KPIs, integrating smart grid and building operations for evolving energy needs.
We plan to improve decision-making with digital tools and IoT data for immediate and strategic enhancements and retrofit existing buildings into intelligent ones for efficient energy management. Supported by existing collaborations, the initiative seeks to lead innovative research in building transformation, involving the academic community and diverse partners.
Key project details
| Principal investigator | Manar Amayri, assistant professor, Concordia Institute for Information Systems Engineering, Concordia University |
Co-principal investigators |
Yann-Gaël Guéhéneuc, professor, Computer Science and Software Engineering, Concordia University; Nizar Bouguila, professor, Concordia Institute for Information Systems Engineering, Concordia University |
Research collaborators |
Ursula Eicker, Concordia University; Bernard Bitar, Groupe Desjardins; Mayi Kato, Groupe Desjardins |
| Non-academic partners | Groupe Desjardins |
| Research Keywords | internet-of-things, electric vehicles, distributed energy resources, building energy management systems, ai-based load monitoring |
| Budget | Cash: $240,000 In-Kind: $40,000 |
Research focus
Sustainable action plan development
This project will leverage the data and experience of Desjardins to formulate a sustainable action plan for retrofitting and decision-making processes on a large scale.
Building stock management and retrofit scenario analysis
This goal aims to develop a validated methodology and set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for managing and prioritizing retrofit measures for building portfolios, including decommissioning steps if necessary.
Living lab demonstration
The project will use the Complexe Desjardins (450 De Maisonneuve Blvd) in downtown Montreal as a living lab to demonstrate the feasibility of retrofitting commercial buildings according to sustainability practices and their potential to offer grid services.
End-to-end management methodology for decarbonization
This project aims to provide a comprehensive methodology for the management of real-estate that facilitates the transition to a decarbonized and sustainable building stock, including the introduction of new services from the decision-making stage to operation.
Building intelligence, metering and monitoring analysis
This project will establish a step-by-step process for transforming existing buildings into intelligent structures with Distributed Energy Resources (DERs), metering and monitoring capabilities.
Integration of optimization and communication for self-consumption and grid services
This step aims to develop intelligent algorithms (optimization and AI-based) to manage building systems for self-consumption and support of grid services with the necessary metering and communication technology.
Non-academic partners
Thank you to our non-academic partners for your support and trust.
