Over the past few years or so there has been a lot of attention paid in the media to solutions and applications that will impact how we manage and operate our buildings and their carbon footprint. It certainly feels that everybody is in agreement on the benefits of smarter buildings. With products such as the Energy DataStream by Synetica and other technological innovations now in the marketplace, we can already start to deliver on the promise of smart building technology. Energy monitoring and management, optimised operations, automated fault detection and even automated demand response have all become a reality.
It basically relies on the same principles of innovation that we have seen in IT and nearly every other industry in recent years. Open, interoperable and extendable platforms allowing connectivity and communication between building systems, security systems and IT systems with value added applications that help us improve building performance, drive down energy consumption, and reduce the operating costs of building. As we have seen in all other industries that have been transformed by the power of technology, after providing the open connectivity and communication the unimaginable becomes imaginable, and the sky is the limit. We simply haven’t seen anything yet and smart building technology is actually becoming, well, smart at long last.
Will buildings be operated by professional operators in overseas countries? Do we even need fancy central operating centers, or will an iPhone do? Is the Internet (Google maybe?) going to predict how my buildings should perform and automatically adjust its parameters off the cuff? Will the tenant or building user know exactly how much energy is consumed and what an individual contributes to the organization’s carbon footprint? Will we finally see the necessary reduction of energy consumption in buildings reach 30, 40, 50 percent or maybe more? Can we imagine that building users can personalize their space by using a phone or personal laptop? And so forth. And the answer to all these questions is a big ‘yes’.
So, now we’re taking building ‘automation’ to the next level, but I don’t think we should be totally satisfied. Not quite yet anyway. After all, it’s not building ‘automation’ the UK needs, but total building ‘transformation’ that we should be searching for. How is the technology going to impact on how we perceive and use our homes and commercial properties? It’s about the ability to create and deliver new services and business models to those that own, operate and occupy our buildings. We now have the ability to design and use our buildings as if it were an iPhone. Highly aesthetic, combining form and function of the highest standards, while providing a platform over which new and exciting services can be delivered. Smart and connected buildings provide us with ways to program and configure spaces differently, in order to meet the ever changing requirements and demands of its users.
Examples of what this may mean to buildings are all around us. With social networking becoming the fastest growing (and largest) source of internet traffic today, and the increasing popularity of tweets, blogs and video posts, it won’t be much of a surprise that the way we work, live, learn and play has permanently evolved. Our next generation tenants and employees will not accept working in stuffy call centre cubicles. Collaboration and communication has been re-defined, and video and mobility are some of the key driving factors. Why do I need a workspace if I can appear virtually at any location? Why do we need a spacious lobby area (on every floor of a commercial office tower) outfitted with expensive fixtures and fittings, if we can bring hosted services over a HD video and still provide a sort of life-like experience? If mobility is everywhere, will the boundaries of our physical office environments blur? Can I work from home, on a business trip or from the coffee shop? How is this going to impact how we provide for office space?
Have you paid attention lately to how your children use communication devices to maintain their friendships, do their homework and find entertainment? (SMS, phone, email, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube). This is what HR departments and business leaders should be paying attention to. This is the audience they will need to attract in say 10 years or so. The definition of ‘workplace’ is changing and new workers are expecting change. These changes will have an impact on our buildings and communities. Flexibility, connectivity, communications and interoperability will be key to these trends. And the IP network will be the architectural platform that enables all of this to happen.
All that said, it is also true that we need to walk before we can run. We need to focus on the low hanging fruit and address the basic decisions that need to be made every day for new construction, retrofit and upgrade projects. Through our work with Integrators in the field we have found it useful to group system decisions into categories such as essential systems, ROI-based systems and brand or experience systems.
- Essential: Look at the essential system’s controls and ensure they are the latest version offered by the manufacturer and insist on open protocols a la KNX. This provides the most flexibility for future enhancements, expansion and interoperability. Additionally, make use of the IT backbone infrastructure to connect the system’s controllers to their management servers. This will provide greater reliability inside the building and more importantly increased security for systems that offer remote access, not to mention elimination of unnecessary overlap of conduit, cabling, switching and other components. Modern, open systems built around a backbone infrastructure cost no more than the traditional silo approach.
- Return on Investment: Evaluate the growing number of systems that might not be considered essential but can offer a compelling return on investment such as intelligent lighting, daylight harvesting, demand response, fault detection, integrated parking and others. This category makes use of the latest technologies and offers significant financial and operational efficiencies.
- Experience: Experience or brand support systems can be very important but are more discretionary in nature and might include digital signage for messaging, way finding and multi-media, ambient music, selected wireless services, accent lighting etc.
Now the basic technologies and infrastructure are in place for lower Capital Expenditure and Operating Costs (helping us all to save money in operations and energy), it’s time to explore the unexplored. Let the total transformation of the UK’s buildings begin I say!
