Modern Building Services

FEATURE SMART BUILDINGS 12 MODERN BUILDING SERVICES FEBRUARY 2021 SMART BUILDINGS A s energy costs rapidly increase, and environmental issues remain amajor concern across the world, there is increasing pressure for facilitymanagers and social housing associations to providemore energy-saving and cost-effective solutions. IoT technology and smart sensors are beginning to pave the way for a digital transformation across all buildings. In turn, demand for smart buildings has increased, with smart building technologies expected to grow by 34% annually over the next five years, and predicted to reach a total market value of $25 billion by 2021. It’s All About the Data Smart buildings have the potential to generate massive amounts of data when utilising connected technologies from individual properties. Deploying a range of IoT smart sensors which are used to gather telemetry data from a variety of parameters including temperature, humidity, CO2 and people movement, can form an interconnected, ’smart’ network infrastructure, connecting and delivering data in real-time to applications in the cloud. The greater the volume of data harvested, the more trending and predictive analysis that can be undertaken; thus, leading to enhanced forecasting, precision and insight. However, an overload of data can bring many challenges; it is key for Housing Associations (HAs) to extract genuine value, rather than storing the data in vast data repositories (‘lakes’) and letting it accumulate and grow stale. It’s crucial for FMs and Energy Managers to use the data correctly, not just collect it, but interface it to their systems. Questions need to be raised, how can this building performance data be used to help both themselves and the tenants? How quickly can the results from the data impact their commercial contracts based on certain building profiles, or making the necessary changes to alleviate costs? All new ways of working need an emphasis on education, and this relates to what to do with this data. It’s not enough to just connect the systems, there still needs to be a cultural shift in thinking to make use of data, and the processes in place to take action from the insight generated. Data from smart sensors may reveal insight into building performance; for example, IoT sensors which can identify whether humidity levels are creating an environment for mould, which if left, would not only incur repair costs but also potentially cause health issues for occupants and tenants. Smart buildings can help to improve living standards for tenant spaces and working conditions for office workers, but this insight isn’t limited to just buildings. IoT devices can send alerts to monitor outdoor spaces too, for example regarding bin fill levels, flooding of car parks, pollution levels, as well as high levels of noise. This data can then be shared with the correct providers who feed it into the network, allowing the appropriate action to be taken quickly and efficiently. In turn, this helps to benefit not only the building occupants, but also the Property Managers, who can use this Nick Sacke , Head of IoT and Products at Comms365, discusses how Facilities and Energy Managers can effectively use the data provided from connected buildings to improve energy performance, reduce costs and meet the changing needs of occupant requirements. Cost effective solutions for ENERGYMANAGEMENT