International. In November, the connected lighting project that transformed Madrid's Torre Europa skyscraper into a smart, highly secure and connected office was presented. This is the first building in Spain to feature a Philips Power over Ethernet (PoE) office lighting system allowing employees to customize their environment using their smartphones and administrators to optimize building spaces and efficiency.
Located in the heart of Madrid's financial district, at 121 meters high, it is one of the tallest buildings in the city, with a privileged location to host the main companies in the country.
The building, which was inaugurated in 1985, has undergone an extensive renovation leading to significant improvements in design and technology, both outside and inside.
Together with Grupo Infinorsa, the majority owner of the property, 14 of the 32 floors of the building were equipped with 5,400 connected luminaires, covering 19,600 m2 of office space.
The new lighting system allows working environments that meet the specific needs of users. For convenience and productivity, employees can customize and adjust lighting levels and other building services, such as air conditioning via an app on their smartphone.
The luminaires are connected to the building's computer network via Power-over-Ethernet (PoE). The system collects, stores, shares and distributes anonymous data acquired by sensors integrated into the luminaires. Information such as room occupancy or temperature can be used to adjust lighting, heating and air conditioning levels or to optimize the use of office space, as well as scheduling cleaning or maintenance services. The efficient use of LED lighting connected to the sensors, ensures that the lights go out when people leave a room. When combined with accurate, real-time data, energy use for lighting can be reduced by up to 70%, representing an annual reduction of 15 tons of CO2 per floor.
Josep Martinez, CEO of Philips Lighting Spain and Portugal said of the project: "Continuous connectivity is transforming the way people interact with information and with each other." "Lighting is everywhere and is central to the connectivity of things. Office lighting that is powered and integrated into the building's grid saves energy and incentivizes new levels of productivity and smarter, more flexible ways of working."
A few weeks after its reopening, the building has already received two enerTIC Awards: Smart Buildings and Smart IT Infrastructure. These awards recognize those projects and managers who stand out in terms of innovation and technology for the improvement of energy efficiency and sustainability. The Smart Buildings category rewards the latest technological solutions for the monitoring and remote management of a new generation of buildings, more energy efficient and comfortable, while the Smart IT Infrastructure category recognizes devices with lower energy consumption and tools to manage the consumption of large ICT infrastructure parks.
