Power Management with Connected Buildings

Power Management with Connected Buildings

We are obsessed towards finding cost savings and optimizing performance when it comes to our work, home or school. But, due to reasons unknown we often neglect the very walls we have around us. Going along the lines of better and smarter buildings, IoT has given us the concept of smart buildings. A smart building basically uses data analytics and the art of connectivity to automatically take actions for solving real time problems that can arise at anytime. From automatically adjusting lighting levels based on the occupancy within a room to optimizing the flow of people passing through a facility, smart buildings can achieve and drive smarter outcomes.

The concept of building management has enhanced ever since the origin of connected buildings. One of the aspects of building management that will benefit due to these connected buildings is power management. The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) reported that buildings could save up to $60 billion if the efforts towards power management were increased by a mere 1-4%.

With power overuse and depletion at stake, it is high time we took power management with connected buildings seriously. It is expected that the U.S alone could save more than 20 per cent of its projected electricity usage for 2030 by implementing smart power management methods.

This prediction relies heavily on the use of smart appliances and equipment that utilize the concepts of IoT to create a building management concept that could lead the way into the future.

The 3 technologies mentioned below could really go a long way in leveraging power management within connected buildings for the better:

1. Advanced energy management systems: This automated concept of fault detection and real time diagnoses helps newer systems in reducing O&M costs and downtimes. This would simply add to the energy savings and optimize equipment setpoints.
2. Smart Lighting: This technology implements the concept of IoT in full force to leverage efforts made for power management. The system would not only turn lights on & off at different times of the day depending on the natural light levels, but also performs a comparative analysis on evaluating the impact of HVAC energy use on power consumption. Besides just evaluating the use of the HVAC system, smart lighting within a smart building will work according to the occupancy levels within a room or place. The occupancy levels will drive the lighting levels deemed feasible for the space.
3. Smart HVAC: Tying HVAC into the energy management setup for the building could maximize savings. Control strategies for HVAC systems can efficiently customize air conditioning based on data pertaining to the preferences of the people living inside.

Most organizations are built upon growth and progress. With smart buildings, the same notion of growth and progress is transferred to our facilities. Our buildings can now carry our own DNA to be lean, autonomous and smart.