INDUSTRY COMMENT: BCIA
Terry Sharp, newly appointed President of the Building Controls Industry Association, discusses a hotel project that has caught his eye, and how it might lead us to better consumer engagement
t gives me great pleasure to write my first BSEE column as BCIA President, having taken over the role from Jon Belfield who has done a fantastic job in promoting and moving the building controls industry forward during his tenure. It is my aim to carry on Jon’s good work highlighting the stories, causes and campaigns that can influence, or be influenced by, the work the BCIA does. The smart building marketplace is made up of such a diverse portfolio of solutions but all aimed in their own way toward building a smarter future for our built environment. Smart technology is seeping into our everyday lives from all angles and the opportunities it has offered have enabled us to transform the buildings in which we live and work into energy efficient, productive and even fun places to be.
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A recently opened hotel in Fort Worth, Texas, The Sinclair, is reported to be the world’s first battery- powered hotel with its replacement of a traditional diesel generator and backup power source with a lithium- ion battery pack, the LG ESS. With rates beginning at more than $300 a night, The Sinclair was formerly home to the Sinclair Oil Company in the 1930s but is now being marketed as the city’s first ‘smart’ hotel, boasting guestrooms equipped with presence sensors, intelligent thermostats, digital showers and touchscreen mirrors.
Gym users can even generate power for the building.
Some of the technology installed garnered some mild criticism in an article in IoT World Today, which suggested some of the lighting options on the touchscreen controls, which include “G’morning”, “Social”, “Relax” and “Romantic”, might be confusing for some consumers. At first glance these options may inspire some thoughts along the lines of Jeff Goldblum’s rather foreboding quote in Jurassic Park: “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.” OK, so the designers might have been having some fun and maybe thought a quirky angle to the lighting control would help to engage with the end users, but it is conceivable to ponder that the thinking behind the idea could be tweaked in a way that will have real benefits to the hotel’s energy efficiency, which is ultimately the aim of the hotel’s abundance of smart technology. The Architectural Digest has even labelled it “one of the most green-friendly properties in the world”. For example, the hotel uses digital electricity, bringing together DC power and data transmission and unifying networking and power cabling installation.
It is perhaps no surprise to learn that the hotel’s owner, real estate developer Farukh Aslam, has a carbon free future very much in his sights, with ambitions for a ‘net-zero’
hotel where guests will be informed of their carbon footprint at the end of their stay, and how it compares to the hotel’s average. Ideas like this could certainly open up a new avenue of customer engagement. So, going back to the lighting options earlier, even if “G’morning” or “Romantic” might not be to the purists’ tastes, if the settings’ efficiency ratings were included alongside the descriptions, consumers might give more consideration to the energy they are using.
www.bcia.co.uk
BSEE
The new BCIA president steps into the spotlight ‘
Smart
technology is seeping into our everyday lives from all angles and the
opportunities it has offered have enabled us to transform the buildings in which we live and work
’
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www.bsee.co.uk
BUILDING SERVICES & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER APRIL 2020 9
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