Johnson Controls (JCI) HVACR Trends - GineersNow Engineering Magazine Key Trends Making Our Cities Greener & Smarter | Page 14

The Key Trends Making
Our Cities Greener,
Safer And Smarter
by Alex Molinaroli, Chairman and CEO
Around the world, governments are investing in innovative
technologies and private-sector solutions to make their cities
safer, “SMARTER” and more sustainable. A number of industry
trends are driving this global transformation including the
development of networked Sensors, Machine to machine
communications, data Analytics, Real-time decision making
and Transactive energy systems while providing communities
with the benefits of improved Efficiency and Resilience.
Networked SENSORS are a foundational component of smart
cities, collecting a broad range of data critical to delivering
improved services for visitors, residents and businesses.
Technology exists today to mimic all five of the human
senses plus many additional ones and integrate the data
into various computerized monitoring and management
systems. Whether “seeing” security incidents through video
surveillance, “hearing” gun shots through audio processing
or “smelling” polluted air through chemical and particulate
detectors, networked arrays of sensors provide the basis
for more accurate analysis and decision-making. The same
networked video camera in a retail store that can detect
an after-hours intrusion can also track the total number of
shoppers in the store, determine if there are more shoppers
buying sweaters or bathing suits, call for additional cashiers
at the check-out line and even communicate with the building
management system to adjust the store temperatures, lighting
and ventilation based on occupancy to save energy (and sell
more sweaters).
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HVACR Leaders • May 2017