Each year it appears that more world industries are turning their attention to eco-friendly business practices, not only in an effort to reduce the negative impacts associated with excess CO2 emissions, but also to meet a growing public demand to facilitate a more sustainable approach to modern life.
Recent data published by Pew Research Centre shows that 69% of Americans believe companies should prioritize the development of alternative energy sources to reduce fossil fuel emissions, with the same number of respondents indicating a desire for the US to become carbon neutral by 2050.
Considering that almost 40% of global energy-related CO2 emissions are produced by the lighting, heating and cooling of buildings, with 30% of the electricity generated for this purpose provided by coal-burning power plants, the modernization of building technology seems like a good place to start.
With this in mind, here’s what smart building technology means for the GreenTech industry in 2023.
Optimizing space utilization
It’s uncommon that the entirety of a commercial building will be used by staff and visitors on a daily basis, with some areas seeing much higher volumes of traffic than others during certain times of day.
When we take this into account, it becomes clear that heating, lighting and otherwise powering unused rooms can not only represent a considerable waste of money, but also a sizable chunk of a company’s carbon footprint that could easily be reduced through the implementation of smart technology.
By installing intelligent access control in these spaces, property managers are presented with reliable data that can be used to improve the efficiency of existing HVAC systems. Using recorded evidence of how and when rooms are commonly accessed, automations can be programmed to only provide power when necessary, with cloud-based platforms even allowing for remote adjustments to be made.
Data-driven building management with IoT sensors
Whilst the data gathered by access control systems can be used as a solid foundation for smart building automation, the installation of IoT (Internet of Things) sensors can help to further strengthen this process.
IoT technology can be used to both collect data pertaining to the use of selected spaces and infrastructure, as well as be integrated alongside occupancy management platforms to create automated triggers designed to only activate heating, lighting and other environmental functions when needed.
IoT sensors include temperature, humidity and proximity monitors that can be programmed to pre-heat or cool rooms based on observed occupancy trends, as well as security technology such as pressure sensors and integrated parking garage cameras with door locks that can be used to improve lockdown safety by triggering systems remotely.
Improving efficiency through automation
Investing in automated building management isn’t only beneficial to the reduction of carbon emissions, these smart systems can also be integrated alongside existing physical and cyber security networks to allow for the development of real-time alerts and remote-access automations.
IoT sensors and access control hardware can be configured within a cloud-based platform to send notifications to security staff based on access control events and predetermined triggers. This allows for the streamlining of both daily visitor management and security monitoring processes, with security teams able to view and adjust every aspect of the network remotely via a connected smart-device.
An open-platform security infrastructure such as this means that physical and cyber security protocols remain intrinsically linked with ecological building management solutions, whilst also allowing for future scalability as new components can be easily integrated with this single-platform network.
Conclusion
By leveraging smart building technology such as IoT sensors and automated access control with modern HVAC systems and cloud-based management platforms, businesses of all sizes are able to both reduce their daily operational costs and improve upon existing building security measures.
Energy resources can be better allocated based on occupancy levels and other real-time analytics, and security teams can improve upon safety protocols through the use of remote-access and automated lockdown functions, culminating in a sophisticated system built for a greener future.