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IN FOCUS Smart spaces bring flexibility and sustainability into the office
The demands on our office buildings have changed over the last few years: flexibility, digitalisation, and energy efficiency are what is important now. At the same time, these buildings should create a comfortable, healthy, and safe environment for employees. So-called smart spaces achieve this balancing act: sensors record how many people are in a room and monitor, for example, which workplaces and areas are actually being used. Based on this data, the use of space can be digitally mapped and optimized.
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ntelligent networked spaces are increasingly becoming the focus of attention. What is most important here is that buildings can create real
benefits for the people who work in them. This is where smart spaces come into play. They are physical places equipped with networked sensors to provide companies with more and better information about the condition of these places and how they are being used.
Wireless and battery-free sensors come with huge advantages
Wireless radio sensors form the basis for such smart spaces because they collect the required data in a maintenance-free way. The advantages of wireless sensors are obvious – they can be flexibly installed in a room and the system can be expanded with additional sensors at any time without having to open walls and use cables. However, it is hugely beneficial for these wireless sensors to be battery-free because it’s no secret that batteries contain hazardous substances that are bad for our environment. In addition to that, copper is also becoming increasingly expensive. Fortunately, EnOcean has found a more sustainable approach to self-powered wireless sensors which obtain their energy from movement, light and temperature differences according to
the principle of energy harvesting. Therefore, they require neither cables nor batteries for smooth operation. The combination of wireless and energy harvesting enables new applications entirely without maintenance requirements and battery waste.
Smart workplace management
Even post COVID, many office workplaces will no longer be used by all employees five days a week, but more likely only three or four days. As a result, a relevant number of workstations will always remain unoccupied and won’t be needed anymore. With desk-sharing and hybrid working models, employers can save up to 30% of the costs for furniture, energy, and rent. Maintenance-free motion sensors detect at any
time how many people are in a building or room, when and where. Vibration sensors attached to desks reliably monitor which workstations are currently being used by employees and which ones are still free. Making the information available in an app has significant advantages: the employees know immediately which workstations are still available and can choose one that exactly fits their needs – either in an area together with other colleagues when working in a team, an area with the preferred temperature, or depending on the available technical equipment.
Optimize the carbon footprint of buildings
Unused desks also mean unused spaces that can become real energy consumers. This is an important aspect, as buildings are responsible for around 40 % of global CO2 emissions. For example, if an area is only used at certain times or very rarely, heating, cooling, ventilation, and lighting can be adjusted accordingly. In addition, collecting data on space utilisation can help determine which areas are rarely used which can help companies decide whether to continue renting them. This not only reduces rental costs, but also directly saves a lot of CO2.
Better air quality in the office
Such sensors can also provide information about the air quality in rooms, for example, and measure how high the CO2 concentration in the air is. The importance of good air quality in offices and meeting rooms can be illustrated by this simple example: if ten employees spend about an hour in a meeting room with insufficient ventilation, this has the same effect on their bodies as if they had each drunk two glasses of wine. Productive work is hardly possible anymore. CO2 sensors can prevent this. They give an early warning when the CO2 concentration rises to a critical level. This should be followed by ventilation as needed – not only to maintain or even increase productivity, but especially not to jeopardize the health of employees due to the aerosols in the air.
Installation made easy
Such a smart IoT solution can be implemented quickly with little effort if the existing IT infrastructure is used. This is also a great advantage in terms of project costs, as they are relatively low. Self-powered radio sensors from EnOcean and Wi-Fi access points from Aruba Networks are a suitable combination for this: the collected sensor data is forwarded directly to the cloud via the Aruba access points with the help of IoT software specially developed for this case. In the final step, the data is visualized in customer- specific dashboards for monitoring and analysis. Battery-free and wireless radio sensors from EnOcean offer a cost effective and sustainable way to set up smart spaces in almost any office building – for more energy efficiency and cost savings as well as more flexible, safer, and comfortable workspaces.
www.enocean.com 22 BUILDING SERVICES & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER JULY 2022 Read the latest at:
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