Sustaining sustainability: Buildings on autopilot

While implementing innovative projects may result in immediate efficiency improvements, it is important to ensure that the benefits are maintained over a longer period, up to the life of the equipment. This can only be achieved by smart building systems with automation leading the way.

Smart building systems (or building management systems) integrate energy and water consumption across campuses down to a granular level, so that we can review and optimize several parameters important for building operations remotely. Smart buildings are equipped with in-built artificial intelligence and energy-saving algorithms to continuously optimize operations in real time and build diagnostics.

Further, smart building systems leverage the advantage of variability in building operations, such as weather, occupancy and equipment condition. Buildings are data- and automation-driven, similar to being on an autopilot mode, minimizing physical presence of operations personnel. Key operational parameters include balance between comfort and indoor air quality for occupants, design versus actual efficiency of major equipment, and equipment health, among others.

Today, we have over 30 million sq ft of space connected to our central command center for managing our building operations efficiently. Operations personnel can review current as well historical building information, at any time, to study patterns and identify opportunities for savings, benchmark and compare different buildings, and gain insights for new building designs.