Modern Building Services

FEATURE SMART BUILDINGS MODERN BUILDING SERVICES MARCH 2022 35 Making Money Smart buildings can actually help generate new revenue streams for their owners. They serve as huge deposits of data that know what people like to do and how/ when we like to do it. That data can be monetized. Data about energy usage, water consumption, people movement, etc., is all there in every smart building. This might be one of the most exciting prospects to building management organizations. Smart buildings are providing alternate revenue streams to them. Have you noticed more marketing/advertising space in buildings today – especially those in elevators and other shared space where you are at the building’s mercy for short periods? Wait until the smart building starts to learn that I like a coffee break around 2 p.m. every day. There is a deal that Starbucks and my smart building are going to make in the not-too- distant future that will let me know my mocha Frappuccino can be waiting downstairs if I just touch the screen in the elevator now. Smart buildings now come with more equipment (everything from printers and projectors to engines and tools). These assets can be shared by occupants, lowering the cost for the user by allowing the smart building to track, assign and repair these items more efficiently (and at a profit). How Smart Must the Building Get? There is no IQ test for a building (at least not yet). But fortunately, almost any intelligence can help buildings save money, help people, help the planet or make money (often doing many of these at once). One of my earliest IoT/edge projects was while working in Austin, Texas. We were testing some new gateways and edge software to collect data from thermostats and occupancy sensors already in the building. It didn’t take much to see that in the middle of a summer afternoon in Texas, the rooms on the south side of a building were getting uncomfortably warmwhile north-side rooms were like iceboxes – all while the A/C was set universally across the building. We also detected, through occupancy sensors, that the security guard traveled the exact path at the same time on patrols – exposing people/property security risks. Just a “kindergarten level” smart building apparatus is a great start for many building management organizations. Small adoptions of IoT and edge sensors, hardware and software on top of existing equipment can yield some significant improvements (saving money, helping people and the environment, and possibly making money). In fact, building management companies are going to have to look at operating buildings more efficiently and with an eye to new revenue streams. The pandemic has changed the way we work and live. Many of us are spending less time in the office and more time at home. We spend less time in retail stores but more time buying things online. If you own and operate buildings, you and your buildings have to be smarter to ensure you survive and thrive in this newworld. Challenges Is it difficult making a building smart? As I just alluded, low- hanging smart-building fruit can usually be easy to find and harvest. More sophisticated smart buildings will take some investment and time. My company works with many of those supporting or directly involved in building management. There are common themes we have learned in creating smart buildings: 1. Open and Flexible. Many of the old building management systems, HVAC controls, power management, emergency and other subsystems of a building are proprietary. They are not open to new integrations and extensions. The subsystems and automation in a smart building must work together and be receptive to change and enhancements. Open-source technology and adherence to open standards allows components to work together and change over time. They help avoid vendor lock-in or high costs associated with single vendor/ proprietary solutions. 2. Scale and Performance. Creating building automation prototypes with a Raspberry Pi and a few cheap sensors is a great way to conceptualize your smart building, but real solutions require scale and performance. Start small, but think big. Engineer and test to the scale and performance needs of your use case. 3. Expertise and Support. When creating your smart building, you will need help. Smart buildings contain OT and IT expertise. You need people who understand sensor fusion AI/ML, and edge- and-cloud native computing as much as they understand PLCs and the BACnet protocol. You need partners that understand the spectrum of technologies and offer more complete solutions (and can leverage other partners to complement their own expertise). Buildings becoming smarter is just a specific form of digital transformation that is happening everywhere. Humans don’t have to be smarter than our buildings, as long as we are providing them with intelligence to make our lives better, and to conserve the precious resources of our planet. More information can be found at www.iotechsys.com