Sponsored by Work smarter, not harder
Steven Nicholls, sales manager at Resource Data Management looks at how smart controls can help deliver greener buildings.
A LOT HAS been written about the importance of driving energy efficiency, and the benefits of improved building control in reducing running costs and carbon emissions.
This is obviously vital and will remain a key issue for the foreseeable future. Alongside this, however, are some less obvious but equally important benefits that flow from applying intelligent controls to buildings.
The importance of delivering comfortable working conditions for building occupants should not be underestimated. Aside from the due diligence requirement to look after employees’ basic needs, research has highlighted the impact on people’s productivity of working in conditions that are either too warm or too cool. A few degrees away from optimum conditions (21°C to 23°C) can reduce people’s productivity by around 5%. When conditions deviate more sharply from the ideal, such as in peak summer months when temperatures in some buildings rocket, people’s productivity can fall dramatically.
The impact of this, in terms of output across a business, can be serious and be felt on the bottom line. For a medium size company with turnover of say £10m, a sustained loss of 5% in productivity across the year would reduce this to £9.5m. Assuming a gross profit margin of 10%, the reduction in staff output effectively results in a halving of profit – from £1m to £0.5m. If this is extended across the economy, the impact could potentially be very significant. Recent research indicates that
wasted office hours due to temperature problems costs the UK economy an estimated £13bn each year. It suggests that less than a quarter of office workers find the temperature in their office comfortable, with more than a third revealing they take at least 10 minutes out of work each day due to temperature issues.
The research, carried out among a sample of 2000 office workers, reveals that 29% spend between 10 and 30 minutes each day not working due to an uncomfortable office temperature, while 6% estimate they spend more than half an hour each day not working well for this reason. According to the researchers, the lost hours and productivity are potentially huge.
The use of intelligent controls ensures optimum conditions are maintained and people remain comfortable and productive.
Technology has moved ahead rapidly in recent years. Modern buildings today are bristling with complex and expensive plant – air conditioning, electrical systems, lighting, security and so on all require servicing and maintaining, often by specialists. This can account for a big chunk of building running costs. Smart monitoring, as pioneered by RDM, gives owners and managers an unprecedented insight into this aspect of building management. It makes totally transparent what was previously a black box, and gives users access to rich performance and operational data on all aspects of building equipment.RDM solutions give building managers full
remote access, and control, of their monitoring system interface using a laptop, tablet or smart
phone, enabling them to manage their buildings literally from anywhere on the globe with an internet connection. The value of this approach is two-fold: first it means that, over time, systems can be optimised and fine-tuned, so they increasingly deliver according to the actual needs and usage patterns of the building, rather than the average conditions set at commissioning.
Second, it enables users to monitor the ongoing performance of plant, and identify and anticipate future equipment failure. This is hugely important, as the cost and business impact of unplanned outages, and the related remedial work, are much greater than the cost of planned preventive maintenance, done in a measured way before plant fails. Alerts can be set up to inform users of important plant performance indicators or critical events that suggest a failure is imminent. These can generate an SMS message or email, enabling the manager to take immediate action to pre-empt a breakdown and head off a more expensive repair.
Work undertaken by RDM with major clients over a number of years has shown that savings due to improved servicing and maintenance can equal the savings in energy costs. The impact on running costs is proven beyond doubt. One client is saving a six figure sum each year on energy, while another has reduced power use by 25% as part of a programme to become carbon neutral.
A further benefit of intelligent control is the ability to streamline the effectiveness of service operations. Smart control platforms, such as RDM’s Data Manager and related systems, help contractors manage their workload more efficiently by planning who attends specific jobs according to the skill set of engineers. It also enables service companies to prioritise work, parking non-critical jobs so multiple repairs can be done in a single planned visit.
This reduces the number of miles travelled by service vans, cutting carbon emissions, reducing costs – helping the contractor be more competitive when tendering for maintenance work. The benefits of intelligent control and monitoring go well beyond gains in efficiency. Taken together, they make a compelling case for their widespread adoption across all building types.
Visit ACR News online at
www.acr-news.com A supplement to ACR News May 2014
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