The Non-Energy Benefits of Smart Buildings

Smart buildings monitor energy efficiency, but what are they really tracking?

The Guardian, June 13, 2016

Most commercial buildings in Australia already have building management systems in place to monitor and adjust energy and water usage for maximum efficiency. Take the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, for example. The Adelaide research building uses an integrated building system that coordinates all of the building’s technologies – from heating and cooling, to hydraulics, fire monitoring, lighting, security and lab controls – in a single platform. The system has reportedly helped to save 18% in whole building energy savings.

The next stage in smart buildings is about improving the occupants’ experience, maximising space and managing individual sections of the building. So, for example, by installing sensors into a building to monitor where people are, the management system could predict which areas are not likely to be used at a certain time and save energy costs by turn off the lighting and climate control in those areas.

Likewise, ANZ Bank reviewed its workspace utilisation by using sensors to identify which areas were most occupied and brought in new, modular furniture (such as locker bays on wheels that doubled as room separators, and mobile kitchens) to make the most of its space.

It’s not about deploying every single smart gadget, Bajaj says. It’s about being in the design space and asking what could the building be, how you can make it a positive space for users, what is the optimum for today and what could it do in future.

This type of space utilisation monitoring isn’t without its controversies though. In January, the UK’s Daily Telegraph installed devices underneath workspaces that used heat and motion sensors to monitor whether people were at their desks. The aim was to understand when desks were occupied and whether any efficiencies could be made on space but a failure to notify staff of the trial before it launched created a backlash amongst the workforce, who felt threatened by being monitored. The company removed the devices less than a day later after it was heavily criticised by the National Union of Journalists for carrying out “surveillance” on its staff.

Bajaj says that although smart buildings often track where people are in the building, “it isn’t about tracking who is where, it’s about tracking where people are in terms of whether spaces are being used effectively”.