Latin America. Smart buildings leverage IoT, Big Data and smart building management systems to improve business performance and energy efficiency, but also to improve the experience of their occupants and attract talent.
Investment in smart building systems is projected to reach $16.449 billion in 2019.
Schneider Electric together with Unwork, a consultancy specializing in new ways of working, published "Smart Working: Smart buildings and the future of work", a study that exposes the advantages of smart buildings for their occupants and for commercial real estate developers. The study also identifies key technology enablers and shows how smart buildings will contribute to transforming work, work environments and the urban landscape.
Investment in smart building systems has grown considerably in recent years. Global spending amounted to $6.616 billion in 2015. By 2019, this figure is projected to reach $16.449 billion. This gives clue to the growing recognition of companies about some benefits that this type of building can bring them: attracting new talent and improving business performance.
"We talk about the work spaces of the future, there is more and more awareness that providing employees with better environments, tools and facilities, will increase their productivity and enhance innovation, creativity and growth. The possibilities offered by an intelligent building in this sense are countless and therefore, investment in this type of technology grows exponentially, "says Caroline Hoarau, manager of the Commercial Buildings segment for the Digital Energy division of Schneider Electric Mexico and Central America.
The study establishes a new results-oriented model that evaluates the extent to which a building is intelligent: the Activ8 model, which details the eight benefits that must be had in order to be considered as such. According to these guidelines, the smart building is sustainable and enlightening, since it provides valuable information about the infrastructure and allows to act based on these results, obtaining improvements in energy efficiency. It is also flexible, making it possible to accommodate more agile and dynamic work models; and healthy, resulting in an improvement of the user experience and greater efficiency and productivity. In addition, thanks to the advanced use of data and analytics, smart buildings are more collaborative.
The impact of workplace design on the physical and mental well-being of employees is an increasingly important issue. Many companies are implementing changes in their offices to combat sedentary lifestyle, for example, since it is proven that higher levels of physical activity improve the effectiveness of employees. In addition, sensors are already on the market that help prevent back, neck and muscle pain.
On the other hand, internal air quality has been shown to affect the productivity or well-being of building users – CO2 levels cause feelings of tiredness and influence decision-making – and natural ventilation or mixed air conditioning are beneficial.
In short, by monitoring the quality of the work environment and the activity of the employees who use it, companies can better understand how the building helps (or harms) the health of people and thus, improve the well-being of employees, which clearly results in an improvement in productivity.
Key technologies
According to the report by Schneider Electric and Unwork, intelligent energy management solutions in buildings make it possible to optimize the performance of systems and consumption, thus achieving large energy efficiency quotas. In addition, on-site power generation, along with advanced analysis software and new types of smart building materials, allow some buildings to even be energy suppliers to national grids.
On the other hand, thanks to emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data and intelligent software, smart buildings can detect faults early and diagnose them, improve the safety of occupants and users of the building or measure the organizational health of the company, among many other benefits.
Seven steps to creating a truly smart building
The report "Smart Working: Smart Buildings and the Future of Work" lists the seven steps that a developer must follow to build a smart building. These steps start, ideally, at the very moment of the conception of the project and extend from the identification of the experts – who will help make the idea a reality – to the choice of the partners that will implement it. It is also necessary to study basic aspects such as the supply and demand of electricity, the iBMS or interconnected resilient construction systems; the choice of technologies and components to be included in the project or the processing of the data that needs to be collected to achieve the objectives.
"It is vital that from the design phase of office projects the necessary bases are incorporated to provide buildings with connectivity and comfort in a scalable and flexible way, so that facilities and buildings can evolve as the different needs of users also evolve," concludes the specialist.
