Thanks to new technologies related to IoT (Internet of Things) and new generation BMS (Building Management System), we now can have real time information on real estate assets. This information offers many advantages in the operation of buildings, both economically and technically.
Saving time and energy
When we talk about real time information, it can concern the instantaneous temperature, the opening of a door, the triggering of an alarm or the level of CO2 present in the building. The advantage of having all these data in real time is to be able to act much faster and to optimize the whole technical management of the building.
If the temperature inside the building is too high, for example, the maintenance company or the service that deals with this type of problem will be warned by one of the building’s occupants. The intervention can only be done after a certain waiting time. Having information in real time will allow to anticipate these actions and launch them automatically, without wasting time.
To go further: it will be possible to prevent a rise in temperature beforehand and to act immediately. Such a system can also report failures in real time and immediately trigger an intervention. This saves a lot of time, not only in terms of administration, but also in terms of technology. Everything will be done automatically, certain steps that were previously necessary will no longer be necessary and the time between the breakdown and the resolution will be considerably reduced.
Intelligent control
The control of a building must also be adapted to the time of day. Indeed, a building does not behave in the same way in the morning, at noon or in the afternoon, depending on the number and habits of the occupants. The information on temperature, sunshine or CO2 level in real time allows to act immediately on the indoor temperature, for example. It will be possible to put ventilation, to start the boilers, the air-conditioning, or other equipment in order to control the building in an optimized way.
With the ELAN law that requires companies to make energy savings, the need for an intelligent and efficient control is growing. And contrary to what some building managers may think, it is not enough to be able to visualize the monthly consumption to be able to generate savings. The overconsumption having already taken place during the month, it is already too late to reduce them!
Visualizing your energy consumption in real time allows you to spot, for example, an anomaly that occurred during the night and to rectify it without waiting, instead of waiting for the next month. The decision making is much faster and the understanding of the life of its building is more accurate and closer to reality at a moment T.
Real time information, better maintenance, better decision making on control rules, optimization of temperatures necessary to obtain an optimal comfort…many advantages that open the way to immediate energy savings. However, this remote information alone is not enough. Companies need to be accompanied by a specialized service, able to assist them on site and provide a more detailed understanding of the data. These experts will be able to make decisions and centralize information and actions, greatly simplifying and optimizing the technical management of the building.
By Alric MARC, Founder of EFICIA
