Sustainability is important to us in Defigo and we know the same goes for our customers. This is why we try to help them prevent Co2 emissions throughout the lifecycle of our system and services.
The real estate industry is one of the biggest contributors of harmful emissions in the world, contributing around 40% of total global emissions. This is why the focus in the coming years for real estate companies is on finding more sustainable processes and products. Whether that’s making properties more energy efficient, reducing waste from construction materials or reducing the need for transportation for property administration.
As part of the real estate and technology industry, it’s important for us at Defigo to play our part in helping property owners and managers reduce their buildings’ emissions and carbon footprint. To understand exactly how much Defigo can contribute, we worked with Climate Point, a global leader in quantifying and forecasting climate impact to precisely calculate the footprint.
Together with Climate Point we were able conclude that over the course of 12 months, Defigo contributes to 5,6 tons of CO2 being avoided in an average sized building. Most of these emissions come from Scope 3 upstream and downstream, which is one of the hardest areas to improve emissions, something we are very proud of. Here’s how we do it.
Cabling
For decades, properties have been installed with intercom systems which require wiring from the entrance of the property, right through to each individual apartment, using, in some cases, thousands of metres of copper, a non-renewable resource.
“By choosing Defigo over more traditional access control we save 82% in installation costs and we can save 6.500 miles of cabling on one of our largest projects – that is copper cabling all the way from Oslo to Jakarta!”
Mustad Eiendom
When designing the Defigo system, our focus was on making it easy to use, easy to install, and more sustainable which is why we only have 2 short cables connecting the system to power and connecting the intercom to the control unit, the ‘brain’ of the system.
By reducing cabling to the bare minimum, it not only makes the system very straightforward to install, but also much better for the planet, preventing more copper than necessary being extracted from the earth.
Recycling components
With 30% of the emissions from real estate coming from building materials, we were conscious that creating a new system will add to this. Though material production has come a long way, we cannot be completely emission free during this part of the process. However, system components are of high quality and can thus be repurposed despite a system reaching its end-of-life. This is why we reuse more than 80% of components to make new systems once an intercom has become outdated and it is time to renew. Within the system are many different parts which will be in good enough condition to reuse on another system, thus keeping a large amount of it out of landfill.
Using what you have
The saying ‘Reduce, reuse, recycle’ rings true for us at Defigo. In order to reduce our impact on the environment, there is one very easy thing we can do: Use what already exists. By using existing technology and resources, we are preventing even more materials being extracted from the earth.
This is why we’ve integrated Defigo with existing access control systems and made an API available so that when you want to digitize your access system you can implement Defigo instead of replacing your entire access control infrastructure. You can implement Defigo across your portfolio of buildings to offer a better experience to your tenants, while administrating everything in Defigo’s web-based administration portal. The less waste, the better!
Also, to cater to everyone’s needs and letting people use what they have, anyone with a phone - whether that’s a landline phone or a smartphone, can use it to answer the door to a visitor.
This way, we take care of everyone's needs and aren’t extracting more materials from the earth than is necessary.
Transport and administration
For property managers of multiple properties, travelling between properties to resolve such things as lost keys, or meeting new tenants to hand over keys leads to the use of a significant amount of fuel over the course of a month or a year, and creates harmful emissions.
Most administrative work is being done online these days, and Defigo is no different, allowing property managers to grant access online, from wherever they are in the world, at the touch of a button, eliminating the need to drive around to distribute keys.
With the option to grant and remove property access remotely, property managers no longer have to drive to their properties to do these tasks, saving a lot of fuel and tons of Co2 each year.
Conclusion
We know the importance of the next few years for ensuring that our planet continues to be a good and safe place for us and nature to live. This is why our focus is on helping our customers make as small a footprint as possible.
We are proud to be advocating for a better way of doing access control, and we are happy to be a part of so many individual journey’s towards reducing our own and our customers’ climate impact.
