For the second blog in our series looking at smart buildings, I have decided to look at how upgrading a building to a smart building can lead to many sustainability benefits. In this day and age building owners and operators are being challenged to increase the efficiency of their facilities to reduce cost, minimize their carbon footprint through green sustainable building design, and drive business best practices. By upgrading a building into a smart building, all this can be achieved and more.
Firstly, in the world of sustainability, it is widely recognised that smart buildings are ‘the next big thing’. With the innovative technology of today, such as smart lighting, which you can control via your ipad on cloud, owners can expect energy efficiency to improve 15-20% in the first year.(www.jll.com) Furthermore, smart systems can automatically calculate carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions, allowing owners to calculate with accuracy any energy wastage and how to act accordingly.
Another major sustainability benefit a smart building brings is long term savings on energy bills. Smart building technology investments typically pay for themselves within one or two years by delivering energy savings and other operational efficiencies. If the building owners see this as a long term investment, they will reap the benefits as smart building management systems often can detect potential equipment failure, thereby reducing facility staff, operations and replacement costs.
One of the most important reasons that smart building systems are starting to transform the energy and sustainability landscape is that owners are adopting the technology. Property owners are installing smart systems across their portfolios, not only for the sake of energy efficiency, but also to reduce risk, and improve operational performance.
Of course a big plus point for building owners going smart is that the building will look extremely attractive to prospective tenants. Anything that improves energy efficiency, reduces occupancy cost and improves productivity is valuable to tenants, as numerous studies and surveys attest.
Smart buildings may seem to some like they only exist in a James Bond movie, with 007 controlling his central heating from his Aston Martin. However, they are becoming increasingly popular. A recent survey from www.automatedbuildings.com,found that smart building technology spending is expected to triple by 2018. As affordable new technologies are adopted, tenants are beginning to expect smart building features — and owners and investors are beginning to realize the return on investment in smart systems. When you take all this into account, it may be time for us to start making some smart decisions.
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In the following weeks, our blog will investigate what benefits could be achieved by upgrading your building into a Smart Building. Join the conversation on our Twitter feed by using the hashtag #smartbuildingseries.
