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| Image Courtesy of IBM |
As we’ve all heard before, buildings take up 40 percent of the global energy demand, and that number will soon reach 60 percent. In the U.S., buildings account for 41 percent of energy use, 73 percent of electricity consumption, and 38 percent of
all CO2 emissions. One way to combat this in the future is to design buildings with smart technology.
According to the Smart Buildings Institute, a smartly designed building enhances the performance of the building and ease of operation over its life cycle. The primary goal is to minimize the long-term costs of building ownership to owners, occupants and the environment. In high-performing buildings, all components are integrated to work together, improving operational performance, increasing occupant comfort and satisfaction, and providing the owner with systems, technologies and tools to manage and minimize energy consumption.
Employing a smart building strategy, according to Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM, can help reduce energy use by up to 50 percent and increase facilities utilization by up to 85 percent. A smarter buildings strategy can also enhance employees’ productivity up to 18 percent, resulting in reduced costs.
So, what can you do to make sure you are designing smarter buildings that will run more efficiently? Here are 10 things to keep in mind.
1. System integration
“The whole idea behind a smart building is the integration of the systems and the understanding that the building itself is a moving ecosystem, with a need for the systems to interact,” says Jim Fletcher, distinguished engineer and chief architect within IBM’s Smarter Infrastructure business. “A true smart building is one where the systems do interact, and they understand the operational characteristics; they understand the occupancy, they understand the movement of people and resources through the building. It’s that intelligent linking of the building systems that we use to make the building a smarter building.”
2. Dynamic adaptation
Fletcher notes that having an understanding of how a building operates, and the interactions of its systems, is important to being able to use that information to dynamically adapt the building. When designing a smart building, this means having variability in the heating and cooling, variability in the lighting, ability to reconfigure the floor space, etc.
3. More than just the automation systems
Jim Sinopoli, PE, RCDD, LEED AP, managing principal at Smart Buildings LLC, Austin, Texas, notes that architects can heavily influence how smart a building will be. Architects need to understand that while control, monitoring and automation systems are essential to a smart building, the initial siting of a building, the structure, envelope, windows, interior layout, etc., also play a major part in how smart a building is and how the building will operate. “The best building control systems cannot compensate for the worst building structure and layout; and in the same way, the best structure cannot compensate for the worst building control systems,” says Sinopoli. “Both are critical in creating a smart and well-designed building.”
4. Technical aspects
While smart buildings are usually thought of as being innovative and using advanced technology and materials, reducing energy, sustainable and providing more efficient, effective and progressive operations, Sinopoli notes that the technical aspects of smart buildings generally involve system integration, advanced building management tools, automation, energy management, data analytics, integration with information technology, among other emerging technologies.
5. Building information modeling
Fletcher notes that there is a transformation going on with how architecture for buildings is being done from a tooling perspective. A big advocate of building information modeling (BIM), Fletcher notes that there are many advantages to BIM, from the level of information that can be understood to the building automation. “By leveraging BIM, we are able to input the information about the actual design of the building, and use during the operational phase,” he says.
6. Start early
Sinopoli notes that it is in the early programming stages of a project where the discussion of automation, advanced technology, smart buildings, building operations and facility management must take place. “Without laying out these matters, it will not become an integral part of the building program and traditional or legacy approaches will oftentimes result,” he explains. “Even if the idea of a smart building becomes an afterthought, something possibly identified later in the design process, its consideration may be disruptive and its potential diminished because of existing design decisions.”
7. Lighting is leading the way
According to Sanjay Manney, director of product management at Echelon Corp., San Jose, Calif., a developer of energy control networking platforms, they expect lighting to move most quickly into the Internet of Things (IoT) space, followed by HVAC and fire/life safety. “Economics and emerging regulations will drive widespread adoption of LED lights with controls in commercial buildings and in public spaces,” says Manney. “It will be important for the consulting engineer to specify systems that can grow, are not vendor-dependent and can serve as a platform for other control applications. The use of Internet Protocol (IP) at every level in a lighting system will facilitate these objectives.” Manney also notes that the research firm IHS Inc., Englewood, Colo., is forecasting nearly 50 percent of the 1 billion industrial or commercial IoT devices installed in 2017 could be lights.
8. Vendor discussions
When talking to building automation system (BAS) vendors about their IP-related capabilities and goals, Manney suggests discussing migration and connectivity. For example, he suggests going over plans on how to migrate from LonWorks or BACnet, or other proprietary protocols, to the world of IPv6; going “IP all the way;” migrating to IP all the way while providing the peer-to-peer capabilities or control features essential to build communities of devices; and providing a range of connectivity options, while ensuring the various products work together seamlessly.
9. Tomorrow’s technology
While no one knows what tomorrow’s technology will bring, Fletcher notes that if you look at traditional buildings, many were not future-proofed. Knowing that solar is continuing to evolve, and alternative fuel sources are becoming popular, he says to future-proof buildings by designing them so as things evolve, we will be able to take advantage of them.
10. Future trends
Manney notes there are four trends in BAS and building management systems (BMS).
1. A multi-protocol future based on the IP protocol as the unifying layer-not just at the management layer where it is used today, but also at the device of fieldbus level. This will hopefully result in the ending of the counter-productive LonWorks versus BACnet discussion that is so ingrained in our specification worldview today. The right answer should be either LonWorks or BACnet-but over IP!
2. The use of big data collection and analysis techniques to identify opportunities for system optimization.
3. A continued use of wired communications even as there is an increasing use of wireless options.
4. Everything is all about the IoT and how to take advantage of the trend towards converging devices and systems together. The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) phase of the Internet will knock down the silos between types of devices in buildings and lighting markets, and enable powerful new converged applications in industrial and home settings. Building security systems will converge with lighting systems and environmental controls and all run on common IP infrastructure, thereby enabling powerful, converged Web-based applications. A recent survey of Echelon customers showed that some 80 percent are planning to converge lighting, HVAC and security systems in the future.