Smart buildings benefit everyone—from architects to end-users, from residents to in-building services. Smart buildings are crucial for preventative maintenance, ensuring regulatory compliance, and have a significant positive impact on making cities more sustainable and environmentally friendly.
Environmental impact
Smart buildings can reduce their carbon footprint by reducing energy use. “Buildings account for approximately 40% of global greenhouse gas emissions... In September 2019, the United Nations Climate Action Summit announced a ‘Zero Carbon Buildings for All’ initiative, aiming to decarbonize all new buildings by 2020 and all existing buildings by 2050 (HSBC 2020).”
Carbon awareness is growing. In 2018, the building and construction industry accounted for 36% of final energy use and 39% of energy and process-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, with 11% of those emissions coming from the manufacture of building materials and products such as steel, cement, and glass (IEA 2019). However, smart technologies such as SmartCore can also make older buildings smarter, and more people are adapting to and upgrading their existing buildings rather than building new ones. This reduces carbon emissions during construction and further reduces energy consumption within buildings.
Cities comprise only 3% of the Earth's land surface, yet they account for over 70% of all carbon emissions (World Economic Forum 2021). Ultimately, smart buildings can create smart cities, and small, collective efforts can yield enormous results. Software, automated sensors, and innovative materials are being used to improve energy efficiency in everything from heating and lighting to security systems. In the UK, for example, the government's new target is to reduce CO2 emissions by 68% by 2030 (City AM 2020).
The new smart system is reported to save up to 25% of energy (HSBC 2020).
SmartCore reduces energy use by providing better insights, integrating data captured by virtual and physical sensors into a user-friendly dashboard. It can also collect data from various other devices and systems, then package and send it to the cloud or a third-party analytics platform. These data insights enable building and facility managers to make quick value judgments, thereby improving the overall performance of buildings.
Key stakeholders
There are many key stakeholders in the smart building ecosystem who can benefit from smart buildings and smart technologies.
Architects and designers
Architects and designers often strive to introduce smart buildings to their clients, but as the demand for smart buildings increases, some end users are specifying the types, requirements, and functions of buildings themselves.
Typically, smart buildings offer architects and designers greater creative potential than traditional buildings. Buildings are no longer just bricks and mortar, but intelligent machines that enable residents to perform tasks exceptionally well. Smart solutions integrated with buildings and other devices and systems bring new opportunities; for example, smart lighting allows lighting designers to create spaces that improve resident health and well-being, increase comfort, and create distinct zones to enhance productivity or help people relax in designated areas. The surrounding environment enhances the overall aesthetic and can be quickly and easily altered, making spaces more flexible and adaptable—for example, a staff canteen can also double as an activity area, a goal that smart technology can seamlessly achieve.
Consulting Engineer
The advantage of consulting engineers is that they can easily integrate new features of software, hardware, protocols, and systems. Many smart technologies in buildings have open APIs and are interoperable. Closed, proprietary systems are gradually disappearing.
For example, SmartCore is intelligent software that enables smart buildings, reducing the cost and complexity of the design and commissioning process. Commissioning can also be done on-site and off-site, allowing up to 80% of buildings to be set up before entering the site, thus saving significant time and costs.
Smart technologies can be used in conjunction with large sensor arrays and IoT systems to achieve optimal building intelligence, making future changes easy.
Main contractor and mechanical and electrical contractor
Smart buildings can greatly benefit contractors through advanced interoperability, which allows them to interconnect systems to form cost-effective and easy-to-implement networks. Solutions like SmartCore do not require complex programming, so they can be easily installed and modified in the future to meet customer needs.
Lighting OEM
In smart buildings, lighting is often an overlooked aspect, its full potential unrealized. SmartCore can integrate with lighting OEMs to make their hardware intelligent, providing advanced control, user-friendly interfaces, and many other features such as cloud connectivity, data capture, intelligent scheduling, and circadian rhythm lighting, providing a future-proofing for their products. Furthermore, protocol-agnostic software ensures seamless connectivity with the rest of the building.
BMS
Building management systems are often seen as a means to make buildings smarter, and with the addition of interoperable solutions (such as SmartCore), they provide the ability to build truly smart buildings. Additional functionalities can be added to the system as a complementary solution to ensure the overall health of the building.
Energy Consultant
As stated above, smart buildings and smart technologies have the power to create more environmentally friendly cities, helping to meet the UK’s goal of reducing CO2 emissions by 68% by 2030.
The integration of data, virtual and physical sensors, and easy-to-control features enables energy consultants to ensure that smart buildings operate like a lean machine and minimize energy waste.
Smart technologies are also compatible with renewable energy sources.
Facilities management company
Smart buildings ultimately make the job of facility managers easier, displaying them all the statistics about the building's health and operations so that value judgments can be made quickly. Managers can control the building both on and off-site, and cloud connectivity allows all aggregated data to be stored off-site for security.
End users
For end-users and building residents, one of the main benefits of smart buildings is improved health, prioritizing air quality, healthy lighting, and spaces that adapt to their needs. "People will no longer experience 'headaches' in the afternoon, often due to poor air quality and insufficient light causing drowsiness and discomfort at the end of the day." Human-centered circadian lighting provides users with natural sleep/wake cycles, offering numerous benefits.
Another benefit is the flexibility and cost-effectiveness of many smart technologies. For example, SmartCore can be easily installed without the need for rule-based programming, making installation faster, and it can be easily modified in the future for spatial adaptability, which can also benefit future residents of the building.
Smart buildings also benefit end users from a CSR perspective: “Redirecting energy spending to building efficiency gives some corporate decision-makers a reputational advantage for doing the right thing in the environment, while also achieving significant performance and productivity improvements” (Building Design & Construction, 2013).
Smart functions
Smart buildings possess intelligent features and are interoperable, creating a tight network between all devices, systems, and services within the building. AI can be integrated for predictive energy optimization, preventative maintenance and fault detection, and improved resident comfort.
One way to improve resident comfort is through personalized settings that allow rooms and equipment to react to your needs. For example, when you enter the building, sensors detect your presence by drawing data from your pass or smart device, automatically adding you to the on-site register. A notification rings on your phone indicating which meeting room is available today. When you arrive at the meeting room, your phone asks if you want coffee, then brews it, so all you have to do is grab a cup from the machine. If the meeting temperature has started, the room reservation register is notified; if the temperature exceeds a certain threshold, the HVAC system activates; voice activation can command the TV to turn on; a "presentation mode" can close the blinds and dim the lights… the possibilities are endless.
Contactless technology will continue to be added to buildings, with motion, voice, or smartphone commands allowing users to call elevators and select floors, making the environment more hygienic and efficient.
As mentioned above, preventative maintenance enables building and facility managers to take proactive steps to address maintenance issues before they arise. When certain equipment is nearing the end of its lifespan, requiring attention, or due to compliance testing, smart sensors installed in the equipment will alert a centralized system, where all test data can then be stored for future reference and review.
Intelligent scheduling allows for automated events to occur based on predefined rules, which also helps improve energy efficiency. For example, in the SmartCore solution, if a building is not present, it can be instructed to enter "night mode" after 6 p.m., which will dim or turn off all lights. However, sensors can also detect gifts and turn on the entire path when needed, meaning users won't walk into darkness.
