Smart Buildings and IoT: The Answer to Driving Efficiency While Maximising Occupant Comfort
Credit to Author: Sanjay Sudhakaran| Date: Thu, 20 Feb 2020 13:03:06 +0000
Unlocking real value of a building can be achieved when you unlock real value for its occupants while maximising operational efficiency. Making your building smarter, connected, and comfortable is key to optimising efficiency, and IoT, which is a fast-expanding digital ecosystem of connected devices, is paving the way for this new world of energy. Over the next decade, millions of products will be installed and connected. The data generated from these connected products will be combined with capabilities to make buildings more efficient.
While disparate software solutions have been available, innovative building management software are required to integrate and automate these functions. The technology to enable this competitive edge is already at hand. The internet and significant price reductions on IT components like wireless sensors have made smart building technologies more affordable, creating a strong business case for owners and investors to invest in intelligent technologies to increase building performance.
IoT is a lot like today’s Building Management Systems, made more intelligent and powerful. The IoT helps create dynamic and intelligent cloud-based interoperable networks by connecting electrical, mechanical, and electro-mechanical systems and platforms. By communicating with each other, these systems can monitor themselves and act when necessary (e.g., turning off air-conditioning or heating system in areas that are less utilised) to provide data and analytics, which are used by facility managers to intelligently optimise performance. With the goal of creating smart buildings that are more efficient and comfortable while being easier to manage, the IoT equates to the networking of systems and devices in buildings. These include:
- Lighting
- Heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC)
- Security and access control
- Control devices—valves, actuators, sensors and meters
When these end points are connected, systems and devices can be adjusted on the fly to respond to varying external conditions for optimal comfort and productivity. Also, connected systems provide the necessary information to enable preventive and predictive maintenance, which can now be scheduled for minimum disruption. By connecting everything, there exists a great potential for remote management of buildings in ways that were not possible before. They use algorithms and predictive analytics to automatically reduce operations in commercial buildings. In the past, this would have been done on a piecemeal basis with a lot of manual intervention to change set-points. With connectivity via sensors and smart devices, today, it can be done remotely. It is also possible to do the opposite, making it easier to bring facilities out of a deep setback when the time comes to do so. In that way, you can save as much energy as possible while still allowing people to be comfortable and productive.
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