Ingenium, like other European study bureaus within the international First Q Network, notices that large real estate groups are asking for strong commitment to smart buildings in addition to the energy aspect of buildings. Keeping comfort for the user at the highest level, today and (over)tomorrow, - and thus building a sustainable relationship with that user - turns out to be crucial in this. What role does the building management system play and what must it meet?
Those who need a lot of surface area are obviously permanently looking for cost optimization. Various studies show that saving energy is not the only key element in this. Making good use of every square meter is an important element, but even more important in reducing costs - by a factor of 10 - is the comfort of the building's users. Those who feel comfortable are more productive and stay on task. Combining comfort and energy in a win-win story requires a well-defined building management system and is just one of Ingenium's strengths.
So, of course, energy still plays an important role in that optimal comfort. There is an increasing demand to ensure a CO2 reduction of 50 percent by 2030. Demand side management' sets the tone: generate only the energy needed according to the occupancy and use of the building. Permanent measurement of the CO2 in a meeting room, for example, means that the flow rate of the air ventilation is matched to the effective attendance, in order to avoid useless energy consumption. The building management system, which captures and processes all this data and then controls the techniques, must not only be performant enough to continuously balance optimal comfort with low energy consumption. Preferably, it should also transcend the level of the building itself, to enable good coordination between its own energy systems on the one hand and the smart city (smart grids, heat networks, etc.) on the other.
Because demand side management is still underdeveloped, Europe makes the Smart Readiness Indicator available to individuals and property managers. This checklist assesses to what extent a building is ready for this smart energy management, and where the areas for improvement are. The chosen building management system must of course be suitable for this continuous interaction between smart building and smart city.
A building management system is also not an end in itself, but a means to optimize energy consumption and comfort. Without a clear future vision from the property manager about the long-term operation of the building, it has become very difficult today to see the (suitable) trees through the technology forest. Defining the right kpi's is also crucial for optimal operation.
Ingenium helps define these kpi's and translates them into the appropriate building management system that optimizes the aspects of comfort and energy during the life cycle of your building. And this in combination with the smart grids that are in full swing.
The use of a building can evolve over time and technology does not stand still either. The building management system of the (near) future will (learn to) program itself via artificial intelligence. It will not only use data from the past, but also anticipate future energy use. The building will learn by itself how the users behave, when they need what level of comfort, and how that comfort can be delivered at the lowest possible energy consumption.
In the further future, building management systems will evolve into "building management as a service. Building optimization will then no longer start from the building itself, but use the knowledge of similar buildings stored in the cloud. This will enable rapid benchmarking and buildings will learn from each other. Just as the cloud has made the purchase of in-house servers obsolete in the IT field, the building management system will run in the cloud. The property manager will only need to invest in sensors and meters to capture and exchange data.
Want to know more about building management systems and smart buildings? Contact our Expert Smart Building Wim Boone at wim.boone@ingenium.be.
