With energy costs spiralling, the efficiency of a building is central to the effectiveness of a business. Improved energy efficiency happens to be good for the environment, but in reality, we often just need to reduce the cost of doing business. With the right building management system, you can take advantage of functions designed to automate energy consumption; improving your comfort while reducing consumption.
The old fashioned way
In the days of analogue, you would have a building manager who would adjust the air conditioning and heating systems. It would mean walking around, turning the odd thermostat or switching on systems. Lights are often left on; some rooms would be too hot, others too cold. You were leaking money everywhere, and your team never felt comfortable.
Then, time moved on, and you may have introduced some automated systems to your building. However, now the building manager needs to understand how to change settings to maximise efficiency and comfort throughout your complex. While you have the equivalent of a pretty impressive car, you still needed a skilled driver to manoeuvre it effectively.
Driving efficiencies into the future
Now, there are building management systems that can use AI to adapt the conditions in your building automatically. If we continue the analogy of the car, you now have yourself a self-driving automobile.
An example of these smarter building management systems is Priva ECO. This installation is a cloud-based service, working as an add-on to your current automated system available from any vendor. Priva ECO is an intelligent software that can scan ahead and calculate scenarios and optimise the comfort levels in your building. It will be able to learn and anticipate occupancy rate, weather conditions and your teams’ preferred settings. It will then adjust all the climate controls within your building to match these requirements.
Imagine the scenario where artificial intelligence allows your system to learn and continuously improve. The software creates a digital twin of your building and plays out different scenarios to better calculate the settings that will suit. The result? 25% lower energy consumption and 100% fewer complaints, as the building occupants are happy in their work.
Moving to the cloud
Moving your building management systems to the cloud feels like the latest technology. However, cloud computing was first used 25 years ago. It has come a long way, and the cloud is now capable of hosting software that can remotely and automatically configure your building management system settings.
This remote software will remove the need for those time consumer operations and automate the climate control for your building. The evolution and maturity of cloud services should promote trust. Your sensitive data will be secure, and the software has gone through significant iterations and stress-testing.
What’s in it for you?
Further evolutions in automation and AI can feel threatening to some, especially for those who worry about intellectual property and the chance of systems being hacked. You may fear that moving your systems to the cloud could be time-consuming and stressful. However, the benefits are significant. You will save a lot of money, your carbon footprint will be reduced, and your staff will be more comfortable. A comfortable team is a more productive team, making you even more money.
At Cube Controls, we offer full consultation on the design of your building systems, including the best use of AI to automate your energy use.
