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The catch-22 of efficiency: doing more to use less
Jamie Cameron, director of digital solutions at Johnson Controls explores how companies can increase efficiency without spending millions or jeopardising worker productivity
Sustainability
for temperature, humidity, and cloudiness to predict loads, equipment performance and ambient conditions. For example, if a particularly mild Wednesday was predicted, CUP technology would prepare to reduce the building’s heating output, ensuring the central plant runs at the lowest possible cost, and far more sustainably, too. Then, the software combines the forecasts
with existing data on historical loads, days of the week, time of day, building schedules, maintenance calendars, and special events to adjust operations and automatically make decisions that guarantee the reliable delivery of workplace utility services. CUP software can also model the simplest flat rates to the most complex real-time pricing and market-based incentive programmes. So, even in the event of high demand, such as the current UK energy crisis, buildings and occupants using CUP technology enjoy lower tariffs, optimised efficiency, and retain a much larger utility budget.
Gathering and sharing data for optimum efficiency
T
he energy industry is putting the UK under increasing pressure, which is affecting homes and businesses nationwide. According to a
survey by the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS), British businesses are also struggling to meet their sustainability goals as a result of the low petrol availability, skyrocketing petrol prices and costs associated with global trade barriers and the Covid-19 pandemic. The emphasis on the nation’s reliance on fossil fuels and our urgent need to transition to renewable, more efficient energy usage are both obvious given how frequently the subject of sustainability comes up. But it is not only up to the government to reduce our energy usage. The efficiency of the buildings we live in depends on business executives, building managers, and people like us. Commercial buildings use about 40% of the world’s energy while producing almost a third of its greenhouse gas emissions. Businesses that fail to make their buildings more efficient risk being at a competitive disadvantage in terms of talent, incentives, and profits as sustainability commitments are supported by both public policy and public opinion.
Using data analytics to accomplish green goals
Now, businesses can employ various optimisation software platforms to predict and directly monitor
workplace energy costs, and automatically optimise cooling, heating, and power generation. They can use AI-powered data analytics to monitor building performance, enhance tenant experience, and meet sustainability goals. Building managers may still assume that the implementation of such powerful, energy-efficient technologies would be a long, costly process. But the truth is they can be installed into buildings quickly and efficiently, and managers can start seeing results and returns immediately.
Driving down costs with CUP technology
What if you could predict the future? And better yet, what if your central plant could automatically adjust your energy usage and costs to prepare for that future? Meet central plant optimisation software. Central utility plant (CUP) technology uses predictive algorithms to maximise buildings’ energy efficiency, reducing greenhouse gas emissions while delivering reliable utility services. And it dispatches decisions every 15 minutes based on a myriad of ever-changing inputs. First, it looks at equipment performance models.
Every major piece of building equipment, such as chillers, boilers, and cooling towers, is tuned into the system to monitor performance and cost, and optimise efficiency under operating conditions. Next, it pulls seven-day local weather forecasts
Businesses can also increase their energy efficiency by installing thorough building management systems. These AI platforms provide managers with a simulated bird’s-eye view of the buildings and assist in decision-making that results in stronger sustainability practises. They continuously inspect workplaces, identifying inefficiencies, identifying equipment issues, and recommending the corrective action required to fix them. They also give managers the ability to monitor not only energy consumption but also asset, space, health, and occupant comfort parameters, all in an effort to increase Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) scores. Many platforms even provide an ecosystem of cloud-based apps that let managers and tenants instantly change the temperature, water supply, HVAC systems, and more in various parts of a building. Managers can now track real-time spending, efficiency insights, and progress directly from their smartphone, which makes it easier to regularly update stakeholders on sustainability results. Therefore, they are not just gathering data; they can also share it. Smart, interconnected management platforms
have already been installed in thousands of buildings worldwide. By monitoring and enhancing energy efficiency, tenant satisfaction, asset performance, maintenance operations, and space performance, these enterprise management tools are used to improve the comfort of all occupants. They are made for places like business offices, hospitals, luxury mixed-use buildings, transportation, shops, and educational institutions. If best practises are adopted globally, businesses
can make progress towards net-zero carbon emissions while benefiting the entire planet. Businesses must look to technology for a significantly better way to manage utilities as costs rise yearly and laws are constantly changing. They will never be able to change things for the better for themselves, the environment, and our health without the aid of smart technology.
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