Buildings are no longer static brick and mortar shells that they used to be 20-30 years ago. The integration of IoT devices and artificial intelligence (AI) are transforming office buildings into efficiently functioning self-correcting systems that connect and interact with occupants based on their behavior.
The most important benefit of deploying AI to building owners is the operational efficiencies from reductions in energy consumption. Below are examples of ways building managers can use AI to control costs.
1. Energy: Use smart meters to prevent energy waste by monitoring usage of electricity during peak hours and adjusting consumption based historical usage data to and drive down costs
2. Water: Through the use of sensors and smart meters building managers can monitor the use and flow of water usage inside of buildings.
3. Fire: Building operators can protect buildings from a fire with automated functionality checks and smart detectors
4. Elevators: remotely monitor performance and automatically schedule maintenance in response to fault detection
5. HVAC: HVAC units can respond to occupancy data to automate fans, air availability and variable air volume inside of commercial spaces based on usage
6. Parking: sensors can monitor available spaces and enable 24/7 parking lot utilization
7. Access and security: connected cameras, instrumented perimeter doors, and floor occupancy data help keep your building secure
Using AI to reduce energy costs
Taking real-time data from sensors and IoT devices from the assets listed above and referencing it to the historical use patterns of occupants can help to reduce costs substantially.
For example, extracting data about electricity use in specific rooms during the day and combining this data with energy prices can help to cut costs by optimizing which rooms to electrify during different times of the day or year. Similar results can be achieved by combining heating and cooling data from the building with weather company forecasts, to offer more efficient heating and cooling.
4 things to consider when starting with AI in your office building
However, getting started with AI can seem complicated and costly. Here are several questions every building owner needs to ask before deploying artificial intelligence-based technologies in their buildings.
1. Return on investment-Consider which areas will bring the most return on investment quickly is the best way to see increased savings and realize benefits from deploying AI.
2. Building self-management-Ask yourself in which situations can the buildings operate and manage itself. Perhaps the HVAC system may be an excellent system to deploy AI, but the security system is something you prefer to self-manage at this time.
3. Workplace improvement-Consider options that not only enable you to reduce costs and but also improve occupant experiences. This way you can double your benefits from deploying AI.
4. Select the right AI vendor-A lot to sensors already come with AI-based software to provide the analytics and its essential to make sure that the right variables will be integrated into the analysis tools. For example, if you know that your building has significant foot-traffic at certain times of the day that impacts the energy use. This should be a part of the analysis you are receiving from the vendor.