Industrial Automation Magazine India

Modern building management systems use sensor networks and analytics

Published on : Thursday 05-10-2023

Building owners should first establish a clear vision, set realistic goals

Anurag Anand, Regional General Manager, Sustainable Buildings, Honeywell Building Technologies.
 
Estimates vary, but buildings account for 30-40% of energy consumption. How does building automation contribute to energy efficiency?
The building sector contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption and in 2021 generated over 37% of energy and process-related global CO2 emissions. Building automation can help reduce the operational energy consumption and costs, improve building performance, and contribute to reducing carbon emissions through sensors, controllers, actuators, and algorithmsⁱ.
 
Building automation technologies are categorised in three different layers:
1. Building Management System (BMS) controls and monitors the buildings’ systems, which control field devices like HVAC, sensors, actuators, pumps, lighting, lifts/escalators and more. Implementing a BMS helps create greater visibility and control of the building assets, while also optimising energy use.
 
2. IoT based Analytics and Automation layer sits above the BMS and understands the building's heating, cooling, and lighting demands, as well as the operating parameters of the building controls, to optimise the building's operational energy.
 
3. Honeywell Forge Performance+ for Buildings provides cloud-based, real-time automated system optimisation software that continuously optimises the operation of HVAC systems for facilities with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). It is designed to help reduce energy spend with limited to no impact on the comfort level of the building occupants. The solution provides energy, carbon and sustainability benefits to help improve visibility to meet sustainability goalsⁱⁱ.  
 
We are quite mature in our journey on the first two automation technologies and have started the third one where we are helping our customers across the globe save millions and millions of units of energy every single day and making the world a better place to live.
 
What are the specific building automation technologies that help optimise heating, cooling, and lighting systems for energy savings?
We are empowering highly evolving, extremely complex and demanding physical systems to be self-learning, autonomous and intelligently operated, bringing transparency into operations and giving valuable actionable insights. We are trying to help not only improve a building's sustainability efforts but also help mitigate the gap and shortage of highly skilled talents.
 
Honeywell has multiple unique building automation solutions which integrate hardware to digitalise the buildings and software solutions to control and optimise the building operations. We have solutions for multiple industries and all kinds of buildings from larger Enterprise buildings (>100000 sq.ft) to small and medium buildings (SMB) (>25000 sq.ft to 100,000 sq.ft).
 
Building management solutions put automation, efficiency, and control in the fingertips of building operators and facility service providers. BMS is secure and highly scalable, and works for buildings of all sizes, helping to meet energy efficiency goals. For the Enterprise building segment Honeywell has multiple BMS like Enterprise Building Integrator, WEBs-N4™ Software based on Niagara Framework®  to name a fewⁱⁱⁱ.  For the SMB segment we have Honeywell Remote Building Manager (RBM), a secure cloud-based supervisor that enables remote monitoring and control of a building management system. RBM is scalable, simpler to adapt, easier to manage and achieve strategic goals like sustainability and building health. It also provides meaningful graphics of real-time building conditions as well as analysis of trends and key performance indicators that helps in quick decision making for energy optimisationiv.
 
How does the integration of sensors and smart controls in building automation enhance indoor air quality and occupant comfort while still maintaining energy efficiency?
When building systems are integrated, occupant well-being can also be considered along with ways to optimise overall energy usage. More effectively, a building operator can get a more robust view of what is happening today within their building and better manage for tomorrow.
Modern building management systems use sensor networks and analytics to provide dynamically responsive ventilation, which optimises conditions in each space in real time based on occupancy, current weather, and other variables. Sensors track both indoor and outdoor conditions, pulling in fresh air when conditions inside and outside the building are closely aligned to minimise the HVAC’s energy load.
 
Recently, Honeywell launched Honeywell Forge for Buildings, a comprehensive approach to building systems operations and management. The solution features software, hardware and services that deliver on key outcomes to help building owners and operators achieve sustainability, operational efficiency, occupant experience, compliance, safety and security, and resiliency goals. The solution enables building owners to optimise building air quality and energy efficiency in real-time, using data from sensors and leveraging AI technologies to constantly monitor, model, and automatically adjust building controls^v.  
 
Given continuous indoor air quality (IAQ) data is the key to an effective HVAC strategy, Honeywell IAQ sensors can help provide visual confirmation of air quality within a building. These IAQ sensors can connect to Honeywell’s most advanced controller platforms to meet specific building management needs as well as send data to Honeywell Remote Building Manager, optimising energy use whilst also improving IAQ^vi.   
 
What are the challenges that organisations face when implementing building automation for sustainability, and how can these be overcome?
A challenge that may confront building proprietors or operators involves discerning the optimal design capable of accommodating future shifts in operational circumstances and technological advancements. Another challenge which they may confront is how to handle existing infrastructure and modernisation to meet the requirements for embarking on a sustainability journey which includes technology investments, finding the right talent to execute the plan and determining the priorities between repair and replacement.
 
The challenges will continue to evolve and get more complex. To overcome these challenges, building owners should first establish a clear vision, set realistic goals, and embark on the journey with the right technology and implementation partner. Sustainability is a multi-year endeavor, and having the proper partner is critical.
 
What is the potential for renewable energy integration within building automation systems, and how does this contribute to a building's overall sustainability profile?
As sustainability efforts have become a focus area for many building owners and occupants, it is imperative to integrate renewable energy options with the building automation system. Along with renewable energy like solar and wind, storage, EV integration and power sourcing plays a critical role for a building eco-system. Technology investments will be crucial to integrate supply side optimisation along with the demand side permanently reducing the energy cost across the lifecycle of new and existing buildings and make them ready for a future for playing an interactive role in the energy system.This integration of supply and demand would help buildings lead towards a long-term digital strategy, to achieve decarbonisation goals, reduce energy use, and boost resiliency and competitiveness^vii.
 
How do building automation systems facilitate the collection of data related to energy consumption and environmental impact, and how can this data be used for continuous improvement?
Honeywell Forge Sustainability+ for Buildings is an autonomous controls platform with a suite of applications ready now to help manage the environmental impact of a building without compromising operational outcomes. The scalable, system-agnostic platform is part of the Honeywell Forge for Building, a comprehensive approach to building systems operations and management, from a single site to an entire portfolio. Designed to meet customers’ needs, its advanced controls capabilities use artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) algorithms to create a baseline of energy consumption and carbon emissions across building assets and can help monitor, control, and optimise those assets. It can also help support carbon reduction goals and help build resilience by managing different power sources^viii.
 
(The views expressed in interviews are personal, not necessarily of the organisations represented)
 
References
i. United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), 2022 Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction, Nov 09, 2022 [Accessed September 27, 2023]    
ii. Honeywell Forge for Buildings, https://www.honeywellforge.ai/us/en/solutions/buildings
iii. Honeywell Enterprise Building Integrator, https://buildings.honeywell.com/us/en/solutions/integrated-operations/ebi
iv. Honeywell Remote Building Manager, https://buildings.honeywell.com/us/en/solutions/remote-building-manager
vi. Honeywell IAQ Sensors, https://www.honeywellbuildings.in/bms/indoor-air-quality/iaq-sensor
vii. How buildings can drive the energy transition, Forbes, https://www.forbes.com/sites/siemens-smart-infrastructure/2023/02/17/energy-crisis-how-buildings-can-drive-the-energy-transition/?sh=70702c6917db
viii. Honeywell Sustainability Platform,
https://buildings.honeywell.com/content/dam/hbtbt/en/documents/downloads/Honeywell-Sustainability-Platform-Overview-Brochure-06092023.pdf