www . refrigerationandaircon . co . za RACA Journal I June 2023 43
Contributor
Matthew Henry | Unsplash
BUILDING EFFICIENCY :
INVISIBLE BECOMES VISIBLE
By Anoop Hariparsad , offer and channel marketing manager : digital energy at Schneider Electric
Many commercial and industrial facilities were built in an era where technology was an afterthought .
This is partly because of the lack of truly feasible technology options that could make the management of building simpler and , importantly , more efficient . Fast-forward 40 years and the industry now features advanced solutions that , short of running a building on auto pilot , offer efficient , optimised and sustainable solutions that catapult facilities into a new era of sophistication .
And short of being a medieval castle , the good news is a lot of buildings can be modernised to benefit from this new and exciting age in efficiency and optimisation .
Our methodology when approaching buildings , old or new is to measure , analyse and then put systems in place to control . In the case of an older building , it is important to measure how it is using its energy – is this done in an efficient manner and how can technology help ?
Once an organisation understands where it is and where it wants to go , it needs to identify the solutions to achieve its goals and a fundamental part of this journey is employing a digital strategy .
With digital innovation , the invisible suddenly becomes visible . Digital technologies such as metering and monitoring , coupled with smart devices and analytic software , allow insight into how a building operates .
Moreover , it provides an understanding of the building ’ s energy and operational efficiency which in turn enables a service provider to identify areas where power can be saved , and untapped areas utilised .
MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR DIGITAL STRATEGY In a digitised building , all the vital cogs start running continuously to provide information on the data required to obtain operational insight .
Now that you have all the data , what is the next step ? Analysis . Here service providers take advantage of best-in-class operation ( OT ) and IT solutions to unlock the performance of buildings to maintain your facilities remotely and proactively .
With its key operation insights , you can reduce energy use as well as unscheduled maintenance , and furthermore extend the life of your assets to save time and money which all contribute to the efficiency of your building .
A building management system ( BMS ) realises a digitally connected building which offers 24 / 7 support for :
• Air conditioning , heating , ventilating and lighting .
• Access control and control devices such : as valves , actuators , sensors and meters .
• Energy management and building operating systems .
Moreover , an open BMS system integrates multiple systems for centralised , real-time control and management across one-to-many enterprise buildings and can help you understand and monitor your facility ’ s energy usage .
Today , there are sophisticated solutions that optimise building operations by constantly monitoring systems and identifying faults to proactively address cloud-based suites of analytics and monitoring services that provide key insights into how to improve efficiencies .
By using AI algorithms and analytics this further allows one to understand the building ’ s energy use and help transition from a reactive operating model to a more effective preventive mindset . RACA
www . refrigerationandaircon . co . za RACA Journal I June 2023 43