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cause concern for those who are apprehensive about having their personal data recorded. For an environmental monitoring solution, for example, information such as energy usage, humidity, carbon monoxide and acoustics needs to be monitored. But what happens to that data, and who owns it? Many do not understand how smart technology can have a positive impact on elements such as energy usage, not just in terms of lowering bills but in turn reducing the impact on the environment and many more subsequent benefits. Without this insight, the automatic response to new technology can be nervousness and scepticism. Education is therefore key to overcoming these cultural concerns and by encouraging collaboration between all parties at an early stage of the plans, the benefits can be clearly explained.
The potential cost of an IoT implementation can also be a perceived barrier, but in the majority of cases the cost benefit analysis can present significant financial savings. For example, IoT technology can help to lower the maintenance quotient of a building by monitoring key parameters such as water usage, temperature and movement of people. With this approach, maintenance can be performed swiftly when it is required, rather than waiting until a system breaks down. IoT technology can also aid in energy reduction, by helping to identify the causes of energy spikes and in turn resulting in an overall decrease in energy bills. By interfacing IoT-enabled devices to a building management system, key data parameters can be used to anticipate needs, take the requisite action and control the entire process from end to end e.g. turning the air conditioning on or off when required – without the need for human interaction. Whilst this involves monitoring a level of personal information, with data protection legislation in place individuals cannot be identified but can still play their part in the smart building measurement model.
There are many new developments that may stir the market of Intelligent Buildings, including wafer-thin sensors that can be placed unobtrusively in challenging areas, robotic assistants that are able to ‘walk’ with you around a facility, tiny drone surveillance of perimeter security, and many, many more. These new developments seem to be focused on a single main objective: improvement of operational processes with the attendant commercial impact and increase in user satisfaction. A good example of this is shared office facilities in the Nordics where resources are dynamic, flexing desk space and facilities for tenants and guests based on actual demand on any given day.
In the near future, we expect this flexibility to go even further, with an increase of highly customisable buildings that will provide individualisation and personalisation of the environment for the individual user, bringing together multiple ergonomic parameters that can be customised at will. For example; technology that matches the seating settings in your car to your desk chair, individual temperature zones by desk, digital image overlays around the user and adaptive lighting to positively impact mood will all work together to provide a more productive, pleasing and personalised environment for each user.
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