Modern Building Services

MODERN BUILDING SERVICES MARCH 2023 15 FEATURE WORKING BUILDINGS Save money IoT and other technologies are also a proven way of saving money in the long term. Heating, ventilation and air conditioning use multiple sensors. Proprietary software interprets the data they provide and responds (for example) by limiting energy consumption in unoccupied rooms, detecting and diagnosing faults and decreasing overall HVAC use during peak demand periods. Research by MIT 5 suggests that smart lighting controls could amount to a 45% energy saving. A single smart thermostat can save up to 10% in HVAC energy consumption. And smart buildings as a whole with the integration of the physical and digital can lead to an extra 25% in energy savings on the entire building. Globally, it is hard to escape news of rising energy prices. Reducing waste is the obvious first thing to cut. The UK Government’s recently announced Energy Bill Relief Scheme (EBRS) will offer discounts to struggling businesses. But the need to balance ESG commitments with rising energy costs requires a financially sustainable solution. The role of technology here is no longer optional. Some of our own customers have experienced 11 to 25% reductions in total ownership costs which is a significant saving in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis and our solutions have also assisted with reducing callout durations. This means, of course, that engineers cost less over time and can be scheduled to arrive at short notice when convenient, minimising disruption. Going green For now, buildings are responsible for 40% of total EU energy consumption and 36% of the EU’s total greenhouse gas emissions. In the long run this will no longer be excusable: the price of renewable energy has plummeted, with the cost of solar alone dropping 80% since 2010 6 . Then there’s the fact that 31% of Gen-Z 7 which is set to be the largest workplace demographic by 2050 would reject jobs at companies with poor environmental credentials. Property owners cannot afford to defer any technology that could improve their assets’ environmental footprint, not least because the biggest driver of ESG investment is demand from clients, stakeholders and customers, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ 2021 Sustainability Report 8 . In one sense, building operators and engineers are on the frontlines of combating climate change. Only 15% of a building’s emissions occur during construction and demolition. This leaves 85% at the mercy of responsible ownership and management. Fortunately, the technology is available. Technology exists that is capable of transferring energy from a node where it’s in surplus to one that’s operating in a deficit. This keeps the system running smoothly, offsetting fluctuations in supply common to wind and solar generated power. There are other applications. The traditional office building was stuffed with paper. Electronic Shelf Labels (ESL), common in retail but applicable to office buildings, make storage, administration and routine maintenance greener and more efficient. We still have a long way to go; 75% of Europe’s current building stock is energy inefficient 9 . But this is a fault of policy, not of technology. In short, a commitment to ESG is essential for modern workers and, by extension, the modern office. The takeaway Technology made large populations possible. Now large populations make technology indispensable. From HVAC to the IoT, robotics to smart lifts, ESL to electronic blueprints, technology has never been more integrated in our buildings and offices. As a result, employees have never relied on it more for their wellbeing, property managers for cost-efficiency, and the planet for a low carbon future. The culture has changed too much, too quickly for property managers to mistake “Build back better” as a mere slogan. More than a slogan, it’s a demand. And the most successful property managers of tomorrow will be those that heeded it today. Source 1 https://tinyurl.com/sz3pdpeb 2 https://tinyurl.com/2nbw7rm7 3 https://tinyurl.com/bde9vcc8 4 www.instantoffices.com/blog/ featured/wearables-at-work 5 www.aceee.org/sites/default/ files/publications/researchreports/ a1701.pdf 6 www.weforum.org/agen- da/2021/11/renewable-ener- gy-cost-fallen 7 www.bupa.com/news/press- releases/2022/gen-z-seek-ethical- workplaces-as-environ-mental- health-burden-bites 8 www.rics.org/news-insights/wbef/ reports-and-research 9 https://tinyurl.com/mrxtej6h More information can be found at www.wemaintain.com