Modern Building Services

MODERN BUILDING SERVICES JULY/AUGUST 2021 29 a facility’s performance to the industry average. In the former case, measures like energy consumption (e.g.,kilowatts (kW) and BTUs (British Thermal Use) and energy cost can be tracked internally. In the latter case, there is a need for KPIs that compare performance to industry averages such as indicators calculated in the scope of the Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS) in the USA. Leveraging such KPIs, building owners and facilities managers can create their own sustainability rating system, as a means of tracking their performance and boosting a continuous improvement discipline. IoT Technology Enablers for Building Sustainability Facilities managers employ many different processes to boost the sustainability of buildings and other properties. In the area of waste management for example, they tend to perform regular waste audits that help them understand and remedy the gaps of their waste management processes. Likewise, they train tenants on waste management activities, while incentivising them to engage in eco-friendly behaviours like recycling. As another example; in energy management they try to use HVAC and lighting only when and where needed. Modern technologies are facilities managers best ally when it comes to implementing the above-listed processes towards achieving ambitious sustainability targets. Specifically, Internet of Things (IoT) technologies enable facilities managers to access data about people, assets, and spaces in the building towards optimising the use of resources, reducing emissions, andminimising carbon footprint. Such data can be acquired pervasively, automatically and in real-time. Facilities managers leverage data analytics to extract unique sustainability insights and KPIs about the operations of their buildings. These insights can be used to drive optimisations in energy management, water management, and wastemanagement. Prominent IoT use cases for buildings’ sustainability include: • RoomOccupancy Monitoring: Leveraging IoT sensors it is nowadays possible tomonitor the occupancy of offices and other spaces to plan for optimal energy usage and spacemanagement. Instead of relying on heuristic assumptions about space occupancy, occupancymonitoring enables facilities managers to make educated decisions about the resources needed in each space of the facility. This use case is trending during COVID19, where usual office occupancy patterns are disrupted due to work-from-home policies. • Energy Usage Optimisation: The pervasivemonitoring of the spaces’ conditions bymeans of IoTsensors enables facilities managers to optimise the operation of energy-intensive systems (e.g., HVAC systems). Using IoTanalytics over data about the condition and occupancy of the spaces, facilities managers can derive optimal energy usage patterns and shape their sustainability strategies accordingly. • Predictive and Condition based Maintenance of assets: IoT enables the implementation of condition-based monitoring and predictive maintenance of physical assets like machinery, pumps, and HVAC systems. Predictive maintenance repairs or replaces assets based on their actual end of life. This improves overall equipment efficiency and reduces the carbon emissions (CO 2 ) that stemfromequipmentmalfunctions. • Boosting Tenants’ Health and Comfort: Leveraging occupancy patterns and pervasive monitoring of the tenants’ behaviors, facilities managers can optimise comfort and health for their tenants. In corporate buildings this boosts the productivity of employees as well. • Tracking KPIs for Performance Management and Compliance: With IoT technologies, data gathering can be performed automatically, continually and remotely. Therefore, IoT provides facilities managers with effective ways for calculating and tracking sustainability KPIs. It also helps themmonitor regulatory compliance, produce relevant reports and avoid the risk of regulatory penalties. IoT technology is without doubt a powerful tool for achieving sustainability goals. It’s a tool facilities managers and buildings’ sustainability managers should add to their armoury on their sustainability journeys. More information can be found at www.disruptive-technologies. com/ FEATURE INSTALLERS VIEW MODERN BUILDING SERVICES APRIL